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JUST PUBLISHED, 

THE THIRD EDITION 

OF THE 

BtAUTIES OF WEBSTER. 



Opinions of the Press. 

Beauties of Daniel Webster. — "A handsome little vo- 
lume of 216 pages, bearing this title, containing judiciously 
selected extracts from the speeches, addresses, &c., of that 
distinguished gentleman. The work is edited by James 
Rees, who has added a Critical Essay on the genius and 
writings of Mr. Webster. Mr. Rees has discharged both 
duties well and ably, and we wish the book might go into 
the hands of every person capable of reading, from New 
Brunswick to Texas." — Neio York Gazette. 

" This is the title of a neat little work, prepared with 
much care by Mr. James Rees. The selections are judi- 
ciously made and admirably ai'ranged. Mr. Webster is 
one of the great men of the country, never at a loss for 
words, powerful in argument, fascinating and beautiful as 
an orator. The critical essay is enthusiastic, eloquent, and 
truthful. The work will meet with an extensive sale." — 
N. Y. Whig. 

" Most appropriately is this beautiful and precious little 
volume dedicated to ' the friends of Liberty throughout the 
world, and to the admirers of the English language in its 
purity.' 

" We rejoice, therefore, that selections, so tastefully made 
as those in this volume, have been put forth in a shape and 
form to give them wide circulation among all classes ; for 
1 



11 

the extracts are such as no American, of whatever party, 
can fail to admire. 

" We commend these Beauties to all our readers." — N. 
Y. American. 

" The passages are selected with judgment and good 
taste, presenting a rare assemblage of noble thoughts, clo- 
thed in surpassing eloquence of language. We are glad 
to see that the Editor has been careful not to omit that 
magnificent outburst of patriotism, the conclusion of the 
great speech in answer to Mr. Hayne on Nullification." — 
New York Commercial Advertiser. 

" Mr. James Rees has been culling Beauties from the 
writings and speeches of Daniel Webster. It may well be 
doubted whether the world can boast of another mind of 
equal power and beauty with that of Mr. Webster." — 
Albany Evening Journal. 



JUST PUBLISHED , 

THE THIRD AMERICAN EDITION OF 

MY NIECE; 

OR, 

THE STRANGER'S GRAVE. 



Opi?oions of the Press. 

"A deeply afflicting story of guilt, and sorrow, and 
death — well written, and impressing strongly the salutary 
admonition to beware of the first beginnings of sin. It is 
published in a very handsome style, and is a book to be 
commended for its literary merit, and still more for its 
moral tendency." — Neiv York Review. 

"A thrilling story, with an awful catastrophe — well 
told, and original." — Ladies' Companion. 

" This is a reprint of one of the most interesting and 
beautiful works for the young, to be found. The publisher 
deserves much praise for the admirable style in which the 
volume is put forth. Its typography is unexceptionably 
neat, and the embossed muslin binding is very elegant. 
We cheerfully commend this work to the attention of pa- 
rents." — New York Mirror. 

" This beautiful narrative, having been for some time 
out of print, is now reproduced in a style, both as regards 
the typographical execution and the binding, which can- 
Kot fail to procure for it a lasting popularity. It is indeed 
the most perfect bijoux of its kind that has ever yet ema- 
nated from the American press , and both the publisher 
and the printer are entitled to great credit, for the excel- 
lent taste they have displayed, in presenting ' My Niece' 
to the public in an attire so exquisitely in keeping with her 
pretensions and intrinsic merit." — Neto York Expositor. 

" This beautiful and instructive tale, which has been 
out of print for some years, comes before the public in a 



IV 

style worthy of all praise. Beautifully printed and beau- 
tifully bound, externally it resembles our best annuals, and 
internally a great superiority is evinced over the most of 
them. The instructive moral of the tale may be gathered 
from the author's concluding paragraph, which we ex- 
tract : 

" 'Reader, I have told thee a tale of no ordinary wo; 
but it has a moral in it. Whatever thou mayst be, or 
however situated, guard well the first avenues which lead 
to sin ; for if one false step be taken, thou canst not tell of 
how many evils it may be the prelude.' " — A r . Y. Literary 
Gazette. 

li This is the title of an interesting work, re-printed in 
a very elegant form, by Edward Walker, of Fulton street, 
New York. The tale is one of deep interest, and presents 
a faithful picture of the progress and consequences of 
vice, and will, if rightly understood, exert an important 
and beneficial influence upon the youthful mind, in pro- 
ving how near to the indulgence of innocent enjoyments, 
is the barrier that separates it from the first steps of vice. 
The tale is told with an unpretending and delicate beauty. 
Even in those passages where it is necessary to portray 
the state of feeling and the power of temptation, the au- 
thor has preserved a purity of style and description, very 
admirable. None, but the fastidious — whose opinion is 
usually worth nothing at all— can find any fault with 
either the contents or the way in which it is got up. There 
are some passages of extraordinary power, and of a 
highly dramatic character. Witness the interview be- 
tween Margaret and her repentant and unhappy brother. 
In a very judicious and brief introduction — the pulisher 
sets forth his opinion — one, by the bye, which we wish he 
could disseminate through the New York community; viz.: 
that good editions at reasonable prices are always cheaper 
than common ones. We have seen few neater works, as 
regards typography and binding, turned out from New 
York. We have not yet seen the work advertized in this 
city. We wish it may have an extended circulation, for 
the interest it excites and the moral it enforces. If otu- 
opportunity would allow, our readers should have an 
extract. — Boston Atlas. 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 



l* 



THE 



BEAUTIES 



OF THE 

HON. HENRY CLAY 

M 
TO WHICH IS ADDED-, 

A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL 

ESSAY. 



-QUID FACUNDIA FOSSET 



RE PATUIT- 



V 'S 

NEW YORK". 

EDWARD WALKER, 

No. 112 Fulton-street. 

1839. 



• 8" 

C5" r j 



Entered, 

According to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by 

EDWARD WALKER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United 

States for the Southern District of New York. 



1 f 




CRAIGHEAD & ALLEN, PRINTERS, 
112 Fulton-street, New YorV. 



TO THE 

CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, 

THE FOLLOWING 
SELECTIONS FROM THE WORKS 

OF THEIR 

PATRIOTIC AND DISTINGUISHED 
COUNTRYMAN, 



IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY 



THE PUBLISHER. 

New York, 1839. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



In presenting this work to the public, the 
publisher cannot refrain from making some 
few remarks, in relation to its appearance. 
He, some time since, published the " Beauties 
of Webster," but could not regard that work 
as complete without an accompanying volume 
of selections from Clay — two of the greatest 
names of which America can boast, in her 
political world. The following selections 
have been made without reference to any 
party feelings. Knowing well that Mr. Clay 
entertained some views on certain subjects, 
from which many enlightened Americans con- 



12 



scientiously differed, it has been his object to 
omit from these pages any extract which might 
tend to offend any party whatever. They are 
presented simply as specimens of eloquence, and 
as such, the publisher believes they will meet 
with that success they so well deserve. He 
has been careful, in the production of this 
work, to present the rarest gems from the 
eloquence of Mr. Clay ; such specimens as 
cannot fail to be interesting to every citizen of 
America. At this time, too, it is believed that 
such a work is a desideratum. Neither time 
nor opportunity will frequently allow a general 
reader to undertake the perusal of long and 
intricate arguments, and from this cause it is 
believed that Mr. Clay's writings are not 
sufficiently or extensively known ; the present 
work has been undertaken with a view to re- 



13 



move this difficulty. At this precise period, 
too, Mr. Clay is naturally exciting much at- 
tention, by the prominent station which he 
occupies ; nor can the publisher doubt that 
this work will be received with pleasure by the 
public. 



CONTENTS. 



A Biographical and Critical Essay 17 

Influence of National Glory 61 

The Danger in Excess of Military Glory 63 

The Claims of Greece 6Q 

The Rise of Parties 69 

Defence of the Administration 73 

The Transactions of Europe considered 74 

The Cause of War with England 77 

The Claims of England on American Seamen 79 

Eulogium on Jefferson 82 

Claims of Seamen ., .... 83 

The Bravery of the Army 85 

Duty of the Country in relation to England 87 

Origin of the Seminole "War 88 

Conduct of the Government towards the Indians 92 

Bonaparte 95 

Influence of Bad Example. 96 

Power of the Constitution. . . ; 98 

Agricultural Claims 99 

Labor the Source of Wealth 101 

The Resources of England 103 

Taxation „ 105 

The Necessity of Protecting Industry 107 

The Tariff. HO 

The Advantages of a Productive System 110 



16 CONTENTS. 

The Advance of Internal Improvement 116 

The Powers of Government 117 

Claims of the West 120 

State of the Country 123 

The Union 128 

Defence of Self. 130 

Domestic Manufactures 134 

National Spirit 1 39 

The Power of Wealth 141 

Necessity of a Naval Force 144 

Policy of Spain 146 

Necessity of Domestic Manufactures 149 

Slavery 151 

Colonization 154 

American Industry 1C2 

Military Heroes 165 

Address at Lexington 167 

Public Feeling 176 

The Defence of Government 183 

Opposition to Banks 183 

The American System 190 

Nullification 197 

Public Discontent 206 

The American System 212 

State of the Country 216 

Reply to Mr. Webster 219 

Patriotism 231 






BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL 

ESSAY. 



The History of Henry Clay is to a certain 
extent the history of his country. Incorpo- 
rated as he is with her most important deci- 
sions ; exercising-, as he did, a vigilance unsur- 
passed over her interest, when danger hovered 
around ; when one false step might have ruined 
the cause of liberty throughout the world, and 
re-established the miseries of a legal despotism. 
Uniting stern justice in principle with elo- 
quence in debate, his voice has been more than 
once heard as the notes of salvation, through 
the American Continent. ^ With his name is 
associated many of its proudest recollections, 
many of the loftiest triumphs of genius, many 
2* 



18 



of the purest outbursts of patriotism, when in 
the exercise of that mighty power, 

" Which awed and shook a monarch and his throne." 

To trace the dawnings of a mind so richly 
stored with intellect, so profound in its rea- 
soning powers, so ready in its invention, 
cannot fail to be interesting. It must be re- 
membered, that he has flourished at times of 
signal disaster, and temporary defeat, when 
the darkest clouds were hovering over the des- 
tinies of the new republic, when one false step 
might ruin the cause of liberty throughout the 
world. The page of common history had 
been blotted with one signal failure of an at- 
tempt to establish republicanism in England, 
and looking back the dim vista of ages, we re- 
member with sorrow the causes which led to 
that result — the wild contention of excited am- 
bition, the grasping avarice and selfishness of 
the leaders, and the dark spirit of bigotry and 
fanaticism which clouded the struggling rays 
of a purer light, and quenched the incipient 
struggles of a better system of government. 
What might have been the effects of a second 



19 



failure in a more enlightened age — it is fear- 
ful to contemplate. Many a wishful eye had 
been turned, from the darkness of despotism, to 
the struggles for liberty on our Western shores ; 
the cause was one in which all were alike in- 
terested, a common brotherhood existed. The 
first great battles which expelled the invader, 
and drove the spoiler from our coast, were past ; 
they had taken their place among the immortal 
records of glory, unsurpassed by the loftiest 
exploits of Roman or Grecian bravery. The 
attention of all Europe was directed to this 
side of the Atlantic, anxious to watch for the 
result of a new experiment in government. 
They had been watching the great experiment 
from the commencement of its action. They 
had heard the predictions which the dying 
voice of tyranny bequeathed, as it fled forever 
from the shores of our country, and while gaz- 
imr at the storm that hovered o'er the horizon, 
they beheld the clouds give way, retiring be- 
fore the growing brightness of the sun of free- 
dom. The whole world felt an interest in our 
success — they felt that with us, as a great na- 






20 



tion, alone was entrusted the task of proclaim-* 
ing the triumph of freedom. The new go- 
vernment had worked well, and its fond sup- 
porters found no object for fear or terror. But 
it could not be concealed from their eyes, that 
the mother country was searching for an op- 
portunity again to pounce upon its prey. The 
progress of manufactures, and the increasing 
resources of the country — above all, the con- 
flicting interests of the northern and southern 
states, speedily verging to a point — presented 
objects of the first importance to the statesman 
and the patriot. Internal convulsion and dis- 
content, a powerful enemy without, called for 
the exercise of untiring energy, and increasing 
vigilance. It was at this era, that Henry 
Clay appears on the scene of his country's 
history. From that time down to the present, 
he has occupied a prominent position ; and 
some account of his progress we feel will be ac- 
ceptable to his countrymen. 

In Hanover County, Virginia, Henry Clay 
was born on the 12th of April, 1777. While 
yet young he was called to sustain the loss of 



21 



an affectionate father, a most respectable cler- 
gyman in that place. At an early age he was 
placed in the office of the late Mr. Tensley, 
clerk of the high court of chancery, at Rich- 
mond, Virginia. Placed in a situation which 
would naturally draw on the resources of his 
mind, the thirst for knowledge, ever craving 
to be gratified, and the ready perception he 
evinced, soon distinguished him, not only in 
the notice of his employer, but also of two 
eminent men of that day, Chancellor Wythe, 
and subsequently, Governor Brooke. Under 
their advice, it seems that Henry Clay first 
entertained an intention of studying the law. 
A noble field for the exercise of those gifts 
which were peculiarly his own, was opened 
before him. It may well be doubted, whether 
a more judicious step could possibly have 
been taken. The imagination, always exu- 
berant in vouth, would thus be somewhat ta- 
med to a more sober exercise, and the judg- 
ment increased and corrected by constant care 
and study. We find him, then, devoting him- 
self to that profession, which, in this country, 



22 



has presented more mighty minds than almost 
any other, and in which he himself was desti- 
ned to become one of the brightest ornaments. 
With a view to the acquisition of both con- 
fidence and fluency, he at this time became as- 
sociated with a number of young men in a 
debating societ} 7 . The anecdote told by a gen- 
tleman who was present at his first attempt to 
address this bod} 7 , reminds us forcibly of many 
similar instances of temporary failure ; and al- 
though many might at that time feel disposed 
to attach some importance to the occurrence, 
Mr. Clay must share their censure in common 
with Addison and Sheridan, of whom similar 
stories are told. When rising to address this 
body, Mr. Clay exhibited the utmost possible 
confusion ; he appeared to have lost all com- 
mand over himself, and at length commenced 
with, " Gentlemen of the Jury." The per- 
sons present exhibited sufficient philosophy to 
hide their consciousness of his error ; and the 
orator, gaining strength from his subject, and 
confidence as he proceeded, delivered a speech, 
wonderful at any time, but most extraordinary 



23 



in so young a man. A person who was pre- 
sent has described the speech as abounding 
with bursts of thrilling eloquence ; the fire of 
the speaker's eye — the bitterness of his invec- 
tive — the whole animation of his manner, as 
much as any thing which he said, won for him 
at that time expressions of the strongest admi- 
ration. His efforts in this society were fre- 
quent, and always successful, betraying the 
intensity with which he thirsted, and the de- 
light with which he drank, at the waters of 
knowledge. So vigilant, indeed, was he in 
his attention to his studies — so determined 
were his efforts to succeed — and, above all, so 
vast and capacious were the resources of his 
mind — that at the age of twenty he obtained 
his license to practise. Little was it then sup- 
posed, though exhibiting gifts of the highest 
order, that the youthful orator was destined 
to become the leader of his country's council — 
the foremost in eloquence and debate. 

He soon after commenced the practice of 
law, and although at that time he had to con- 
tend with many formidable rivals, he soon 
became the most distinguished pleader. It is 



24 



said that at this time, his legal knowledge was 
not so distinguished as his powerful eloquence, 
and it is not to be doubted that he frequently 
won the jury more by the richness and vigor of 
his language, than any profundity of argument 
which he displayed. It was at this time that 
the fulness of his intellect was displayed, and 
here he first won the prophecies of his future 
renown. Mr. Clay exhibited at this time a 
knowledge of character and experience of 
mind, not to be looked for in so young a man. 
This experience was the result as much pro- 
bably of the conformation of his mind as of any 
other cause. The clearness of his judgment 
has been, and still is, one of his proudest 
qualifications. Deeply versed in the human 
heart, exerting a magic power over its feelings 
and passions, he knew when to lash them into 
indignation, or calm them back to pity. 
With such requisites for a pleader, it does not 
seem surprising that his success should have 
been complete. At this time he appears to 
have been intrusted with several cases of great 
importance, in which he acquitted himself to 
the satisfaction and admiration of all. His 



25 



appeals to the jury were distinguished by their 
deep earnestness and touching pathos, while 
he not unfrequently exhibited a tasteful and 
deep knowledge of classic lore. About this 
time he rendered himself conspicuous by his 
conduct in a case which, from its peculiar cir- 
cumstances, he had undertaken to defend. This 
was the trial of a Mr. Willis, of Fayette 
County, who was supposed to have committed 
a murder under circumstances of peculiar atro- 
city* On the first trial of the case, Mr. Clay 
had succeeded in dividing the jury as to the 
nature of the prisoner's offence. At the next 
session, the public prosecutor moved for a 
venire facias dc novo. In his argument be- 
fore the jury, Mr. Clay contended that, the 
prisoner had been once tried, and the law re- 
quired that no man's life should be placed in se- 
cond jeopardy for the same act. The court inter- 
fered to prevent his proceeding with the argu- 
ment, when Mr. Cla\% indignant at the inter- 
ruption, took his papers, and declaring that 
unless he argued the cause in his own way, he 
would not argue it all, left the court with his 
associate counsel. The event was as he pre- 

3 



26 



mised. He had scarcely arrived at his cham- 
bers, before a messenger requested his return 
to the court, assuring him that he should pur- 
sue the line of argument which he pleased. He 
did return, and in one of the most masterly 
efforts on record, succeeded in inducing the 
jury to acquit the prisoner .As a proof of the 
wonderful power possessed by Mr. Clay over 
the minds of a jury, may be mentioned a cir- 
cumstance with which he was connected at 
this time. He had accepted the office of pub- 
lic prosecutor, and, in the discharge of his 
dutv, he was called upon to appear against a 
slave, who irritated by brutal conduct, and 
struck by his overseer, felled him to the earth. 
The slave was tried for murder, although the 
circumstances were calculated onlv to substan- 
tiate a charge of manslaughter. It was for Mr. 
Clay however to sustain the charge, and in an 
elaborate speech he contended, that although 
the case presented only the charge of man- 
slaughter had the prisoner been a white man, 
yet it being by law the duty of slaves to submit, a 
charge of murder could be substantiated. By 
the power of his argument, and the force of 



27 



his eloquence, he prevailed on the jury to re- 
turn a verdict of guilty. The man was execu- 
ted, but Mr. Clay has been frequently heard 
to say, that he repented his part in this case 
more than any professional act of his life. 

But we have seen as yet only the glimmer- 
ings of his future greatness. We have yet to 
see him in other characters, those too of more 
importance to the interests and destinies of the 
people. Fancy alone could as yet portray 
his renown as the champion of freedom, and 
the defender of the insulted honor of his coun- 
try. His political career may be said to have 
commenced when the people of Kentucky 
formed their convention, to debate on a new 
constitution for the state. One of the most im- 
portant features of the plan was the gradual 
extermination of slavery. At this time, the 
voice of Mr. Clay was employed on every oc- 
casion on behalf of natural justice, nor was his 
pen idle. He used every influence within his 
power, to produce the election of men favora- 
ble to the cause, but, it is to be regretted, with- 
out effect. The part he took in this matter, 
drew on him a temporary unpopularity, which 



28 



was however but of short duration. Not long 
after the famous sedition law was passed, and 
Mr. Clay came boldly forward as the avowed 
defender of the people's rights — the effect of 
bis eloquence was to raise a cry of indignation 
throughout the whole assembly. While des- 
canting on the nature of this oppression, the 
torrent of bitter invective which he poured 
out, the animation of his manner, and the bit- 
ter indignation of his soul, produced an effect 
of the most interesting description. In the 
year 1803, several of Mr. Clay's friends, with- 
out his knowledge or consent, opened a poll for 
him at Fayette. His success seemed by no 
means sure, and although for the first and se- 
cond day, his support was respectable, it seem- 
ed exceedingly doubtful whether so young a 
man could succeed at that time. On the third 
day, however, Mr. Clay arrived on the ground, 
and disgusted with the tricks and artifices re- 
sorted to by his opponents, broke through his 
previous resolution, and addressed the people. 
The result was that he was elected almost by 
acclamation. At this time Mr. Clay distin- 
guished himself by his efforts in the legislature, 



29 



more particularly by his remarks on the remo- 
val of the seat of government, and his difficul- 
ties with Mr. Daviess. Soon after this period, 
Mr. Clay appeared as the counsel of the cele- 
brated Aaron Burr. Burr had been accused 
of treason, but the general opinion at that 
time ran certainly in his favor. So strongly 
was Mr. Clay persuaded of his innocence, that 
when Mr. Burr, anxious to procure his profes- 
sional assistance, forwarded him a large sum of 
money, he returned it, joining with his associate 
counsel in expressing his unwillingness to re- 
ceive a fee for the defence of a persecuted 
stranger, and a man of no mean standing in the 
profession. Mr. Burr was brought before the 
federal court at Frankfort, and discharged, 
the attorney-general being unprepared with 
evidence. He was soon after arrested on 
the same charge ; but in the interval, Mr, Clay 
had been elected by the Kentucky legislature 
a Senator of the United States. Not consi- 
dering his station warranted his appearance as 
the advocate of one accused of treason, he at 

first declined to act, but persuaded by the re- 

3* 



30 



presentations of Burr of his innocence, he made 
another attempt equally successful. When, 
however, subsequent events convinced him of 
his delusion, he resented the deceit practised 
upon him ; and when in the court in New York, 
Mr. Burr afterwards tendered him his hand, he 
declined it, though offered in the presence of 
the whole court. 

Mr. Clay took his seat for the second time 
in the Senate of the United States, in the win- 
ter of 1809, and distinguished himself once 
more, by his speech in support of domestic 
manufactures, from which we have taken nu- 
merous extracts in our w ork. Soon, however, 
opened the prospect of a war with England, 
and it was at this time that Mr. Clay particu- 
larly distinguished himself by the part he took 
in public affairs. 

In the summer of 1811, he returned to 
Kentucky, and was elected a member of the 
national house of representatives, and on the 
first day of his appearance was elected speaker, 
by a vote of nearly two to one. This period 
was one fraught with import to American in- 



o 



i 



terests. The breach was widening between 
our country and England, and gradually as- 
sumed an appearance which threatened imme- 
diate rupture. Insult was heaped on injury, 
and every attempt was made to cramp our re- 
sources, and cripple our commerce. The 
British cruisers, in violation of law and jus- 
tice, boarding our vessels, seized and detained 
our seamen, treating them as the subjects of 
the king. In 1812, seven thousand had been 
captured. In addition to this, attempts were 
every where made by the British power to 
check our commerce, by blockading the ports. 
Every vessel supposed to be destined for 
France was seized under this mock prohibition. 
Congress had taken every means to prevent 
the recurrence of these outrages, and, in order 
to maintain our peaceful relations, had sub- 
mitted a series of propositions, which were re- 
jected with contempt. The proceedings of 
congress were, at this juncture, looked up to 
with great and absorbing interest. England 
at this time was engaged in a fearful 
struggle with France, and mighty interests 



32 



were involved in the struggle. There 
existed then a strong party in favor of the 
former, and distinguished by an unmiti- 
gated detestation of the latter. It was against 
this party that Mr. Clay exerted himself with 
an eloquence and ability which has been power- 
fully described by a native writer. He says, 
" The occasion was great beyond any that 
had ever roused his energies, and his soul 
swelled at the contemplation of it. From the 
electric home of his mind, a flash went forth, 
and it was seen blazing and eorruscating 
through every city and hamlet of the union. 
Like the eastern magician, he invoked the 
storm with a voice of power, and the shouts of 
answering spirits, like the murmurs of subter- 
ranean waters, went up from every hill, and 
plain, and valley of his country." At this 
period he had to encounter the weapons of 
one of the mightiest minds of the time, in the 
person of John Randolph ; no other man but 
Mr. Clay would have dared to meet his hos- 
tile frown, the lightnings of his mind, or the 
withering sarcasm of his manner. Mr. Clay, 



33 



however, mingled in the fray, and met the on- 
set of the great orator with a corresponding 
force and energy. The act of declaration was 
passed in the house on the 18th of June, and 
the President's proclamation bears date of the 
19th. The efforts of Mr. Clay during this 
period were distinguished by a lofty tone of 
patriotism, by an unflinching vindication of 
the honor of his country, and a success which 
stamped him the peculiar favorite of the 
people. 

Mr. Clay continued to exercise his powers 
in congress until January, 1814, when he was 
appointed one of the commissioners to negoti- 
ate a treaty of peace. He, therefore, resigned 
the speaker's chair. He resigned on the 16th 
of January in an affecting speech, and left the 
halls where he had so distinguished himself, 
and where he was then the most powerful and 
influential member. In this commission he was 
associated with John Quincy Adams, James 
A. Bayard, Albert Gallatin, and Jonathan 
Russell ; they were directed to proceed to Got- 
tenburgh, from whence the negotiation was 



34 



transferred to Ghent, the British Commissioners 
being Lord Gambier, Henry Goulborn, and 
William Adams. On his return to America, 
he was everywhere received with testimonials 
of respect and gratitude. In Kentucky, his in- 
fluence was unbounded. Before his arrival, he 
was unanimously elected a member of congress 
from the district he had formerly represented. 
In the next session, he was elected speaker of 
the house by an almost unanimous vote. He 
now distinguished himself by his efforts in fa- 
vor of the bank, in relation to which he soon 
after changed his opinion. 

The question of the South American Re- 
publics was now agitated. The feelings of Mr. 
Clay was enlisted in their favor, and his de- 
fence of their rights was noble and eloquent. 

From this period his history is too well 
known to need recapitulation. He has been 
associated with events still fresh in the recol- 
lection of his countrymen. His most brilliant 
efforts from this time were his speeches on in- 
ternal improvement, the Seminole war, and the 
Greek revolution. In 1822, Mr. Clay, amongst 
others, was nominated to the presidency. In 



35 



March, 1825, he commenced the duties of Se- 
cretary of State under the Presidency of Mr. 
Adams, and during this time he concluded 
more negotiations than had ever been previous- 
ly concluded from the first adoption of the con- 
stitution. From this situation he soon after 
retired. His history from this time is familiar 
to all. 

We have thus traced the rise and progress 
of one of the greatest men of which America 
can boast. With the recommendation of a long 
experience, of honest independence, and un- 
flinching firmness, in the defence of his coun- 
try, he yet lives in the hearts and affections of 
the people, and his efforts stand as master- 
pieces of genius on the broad page of Ameri- 
can glory. Deeply attached to the principles 
of the constitution, well versed in the history of 
governments throughout the world, the past 
history of the country in moments of afflic- 
tion give earnest of future hopes. His elo- 
quence has stopped the mad ambition of exe- 
cutive governments — his genius has pierced 
the flimsy veil which covered the injurious 
measures which have been introduced — his 



36 



mind saw clearly the danger present and the 
danger that was remote, and his whole soul 
has been thrown into the task of stripping off 
the borrowed robes, and presenting itself in its 
naked weakness. The man who has preserved 
American interest, will not be backward at his 
country's call. The offsprings of his genius, 
following in the track of liberty, claim kindred 
with its loftiest aspirations ; and there can be 
but one sympathetic feeling of admiration, 
wherever the American Constitution is admi- 
red or known. 

A few remarks on the general characteristics 
of Mr. Clay as an orator, and our task will be 
completed. 

The distinguishing characteristic of Mr. 
Clay's oratory is brilliancy. His words seem 
to flash with the spirit he imparts, and his 
language attracts the mind, and fascinates it 
with beauty. He seems to possess the singu- 
lar and desirable faculty, of throwing a charm 
over the most dry and abstract argument. 
From sentence to sentence, from argument 
to argument, we glide, wondering only at the 
varied pleasures which attract us as we pass. 



37 



Like some noble river, the eloquence of Clay 
glides, swelling in majesty and grandeur as it 
rolls. It is singular, too, that when he leaves 
the direct line of argument, to pour the thun- 
der on some despot foe, or flash the lightnings 
of indignation on the betrayers of his country, 
he has always previously prepared the mind 
for it. There is not the slightest evidence of 
labor ; every thing seems the natural fruit of 
his mighty mind. 

Though not always as powerful as Webster, 
he is frequently more brilliant. The majestic 
eloquence of Webster falls like the avalanche, 
accompanied with clouds and gloom ; the 
other, like the cascade, sparkling with a thou- 
sand gems of beauty. Mr. Clay frequently 
intersperses his political and forensic efforts, 
with appropriate allusions to classic times. 
His mind seems to love to dwell amid the 
memory of their glory ; his imagination, vivid 
and active, brings them back again to being. 
He revels and sports in their existence, and is 
ever drawing from their exhaustless fountain 
the elements of knowledge. He loves to re- 

4 



38 



gard America as the modern land of freedom, 
and would seek for examples for the imitation 
of the one, from the renown, the glory, and 
the arts of the other. 

In argument, Mr. Clay yields to no man at 
present in the American senate. His speeches, 
generally long, on important subjects, are never 
tedious. He presents, in a clear and concise man- 
ner, the leading points of his subject, nor does he 
ever shrink from theaccomplishmentof a duty, if 
required. He is not afraid to grapple with the 
intricacies which present themselves. He takes 
no superficial view of his theme, detects the falla- 
cies, and strikes at them with a sure and un- 
erring aim. His speeches, too, evince a pro- 
found knowledge, and extensive acquaintance 
with political science. He loves to point out 
the errors of despotic and monarchical misrule, 
and visits the instances afforded with no sparing 
hand. 

Frequently, too, his speeches are embellish- 
ed with passages of deep pathos, so stirring 
and touching, that they flash to every heart; 
alternately, he can excite the soul into exulta- 
tion for past victories, or determination for 



39 



future defence. He stands, like Prospero, 
with his magic wand, to call the spirits of 
power around him. 

Mr. Clay evinces a high order of genius. 
His sarcasm is always deep and bitter ; he 
spares no part of the subject demanding its 
exercise. He laughs at the puny attempts to 
subvert or overthrow him ; he seems conscious 
of playing for a high stake — his country's 
happiness, and perhaps existence — and he ex- 
hibits in their defence the unshrinking courage 
and desperate firmness of the patriot. 

It cannot be doubted that Mr. Clay has ex- 
erted a great influence upon the destinies of 
his country. His fellow citizens owe him a 
great debt of gratitude. At the present mo- 
ment, though age is stealing on him, he has 
not deserted his post ; and should it be the 
pleasure of the people to call him to a more ex- 
alted sphere of action, who shall calculate the 
benefit which will accrue from the efforts of his 
enlightened and patriotic mind. 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 



INFLUENCE OF NATIONAL GLORY. 

We are asked, what have we gained by the 
war % I have shown that we have lost nothing 
in rights, territory, or honor ; nothing for which 
we ought to have contended, according to the 
principles of the gentlemen on the other side, or 
according to our own. Have we gained nothing 
by the war % Let any man look at the degra- 
ded condition of this country before the war, the 
scorn of the universe, the contempt of ourselves 
and tell me if we have gained nothing by the 
war. What is our present situation % Re- 
spectability and character abroad, security and 
confidence at home. If we have not obtained, 
in the opinion of some, the full measure of retri- 
bution, our character and constitution are placed 
on a solid basis, never to be shaken. 

The glory acquired by our gallant tars, by 
our Jacksons and our Browns on the land — is 
that nothing 1 True, we had our viscissitudes : 

G 



G2 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

there were humiliating events which the patriot 
cannot review without deep regret— but the 
great account, when it comes to be balanced, 
will be found vastly in our favor. Is there a 
man who would obliterate from the proud pages 
of our history the brilliant achievements of Jack- 
son, Brown, and Scott, and the host of heroes 
on land and sea, whom I cannot enumerate ] 
Is there a man who could not desire a participa- 
tion in the national glory acquired by the war 1 
Yes, national glory, which, however the expres- 
sion may be condemned by some, must be che- 
rished by every genuine patriot. 

What do I mean by national glory 1 Glory 
such as Hull, Jackson, and Perry, have acquired. 
And are gentlemen insensible to their deeds — 
to the value of them in animating the country 
in the hour of peril hereafter] Did the battle 
of Thermopylae preserve Greece but once 1 
Whilst the Mississippi continues to bear the 
tributes of the Iron Mountains and the Alle- 
ghanies to her Delta and to the Gulf of Mexico, 
the eighth of January shall be remembered, and 
the glory of that day shall stimulate future patri- 
ots, and nerve the arms of unborn freemen, in 
driving the presumptuous invader from our 
country's soil. 



BEAUTIES OP CLAY. (33 

Gentlemen may boast of their insensibility to 
feelings inspired by the contemplation of such 
events. But I would ask, does the recollection 
of Bunker's Hill, Saratoga, and Yorktown, af- 
ford them no pleasure 1 Every act of noble 
sacrifice to the country, every instance of patri- 
otic devotion to her cause, has its beneficial in- 
fluence. A nation's character is the sum of its 
splendid deed* ; they constitute one common 
patrimony, the nation's inheritance. They awe 
foreign powers — they arouse and animate our 
own people. I luve true glory. It is this sen- 
timent which ought to be cherished ; and, in 
spite of cavils and sneers, and attempts to put it 
down, it will finally conduct this nation to that 
height to which God and nature have destined 
it. 

THE DANGER IN EXCESS OE MILITARY HONOR, 

Mr. Chairman, — I trust that I shall be indulg- 
ed with some few reflections, upon the danger of 
permitting the conduct on which it has been my 
painful duty to animadvert, to pass without a 
solemn expression of the disapprobation of this 
house. Recall to your recollection, sir, the free 
nations which have gone before us. Where are 
they now % 



64 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

"Gone glimmering through the dream of things that \vere ? 
A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour." 

And how have they lost their liberties % If we 
could transport ourselves back, sir, to the ages 
when Greece and Rome nourished in their great- 
est prosperity, and, mingling in the throng, should 
ask a Grecian if he did not fear that some da- 
ring military chieftain, covered with glory, some 
Philip or Alexander, would one day overthrow 
the liberties of his country, — the confident and 
indignant Grecian would exclaim, No ! no ! we 
have nothing to fear from our heroes ; our liber- 
ties will be eternal. If a Roman citizen had 
been asked, if he did not fear that the conqueror 
of Gaul might establish a throne upon the ruins 
of public liberty, he would have instantly repel- 
led the unjust insinuation. Yet Greece has 
fallen; Cesar has passed the Rubicon ; and the 
patriotic arm even of Brutus could not preserve 
the liberties of his devoted country. 

Sir, we are fighting a great moral battle for 
the benefit, not only of our country, but of all 
mankind. The eyes of the whole world are in 
fixed attention upon us. One, and the largest 
portion of it, is gazing with jealousy and with 
envy ; the other portion with hope, with confi- 
dence, and with affection. Every where thj 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 65 

black cloud of legitimacy is suspended over the 
world, save only one bright spot, which breaks 
out from the political hemisphere of the West, 
to enlighten, and animate, and gladden the hu- 
man heart. Obscure that, by the downfall of 
liberty here, and all mankind are enshrouded in 
a pall of universal darkness. Beware, then, sir, 
how you give a fatal sanction, in this infant pe- 
riod of our republic, to military insubordination. 
Remember, that Greece had her Alexander, 
Rome her Cesar, England her Cromwell, France 
her Bonaparte, and, that if we would escape the 
rock on which they split, we must avoid their 
errors. 

I hope, sir, that gentlemen will deliberately 
survey the awful isthmus on which we stand. 
They may bear down all opposition. They 
may even vote the general* the public thanks. 
They may carry him triumphantly through this 
house. But if they do, sir, in my humble judg- 
ment, it will be a triumph of the principle of in- 
subordination — a triumph of the military over 
the civil authority — a triumph over the powers 
of this house — a triumph over the constitution 
of the land — and I pray, sir, most devoutly, that 

* General Jackson. 
6* 



66 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

it may not prove, in its ultimate effects and con- 
sequences, a triumph over the liberties of the 
people. 

THE CLAIMS OP GREECE. 

Mr. Chairman, — There is reason to appre- 
hend that a tremendous storm is ready to burst 
upon our happy country — one which may call 
into action all our vigor, courage, and resources. 
Is it wise or prudent, then, sir, in preparing to 
breast the storm, if it must come, to talk to this 
nation of its incompetency to repel European 
aggression, to lower its spirit, to weaken its 
moral energy, and to qualify it for easy con- 
quest and base submission ! If there be any 
reality in the dangers which are supposed to 
encompass us, should we not animate the peo- 
ple, and adjure them to believe, as I do, that 
our resources are ample ; and that we can bring 
into the field a million of freemen ready to ex- 
haust their last drop of blood, and to spend their 
last cent, in the defence of the country, its liber- 
ty, and its institutions ? Sir, are we, if united, 
to be conquered by all Europe combined ? No, 
sir, no united nation, that resolves to be free, 
can be conquered. And has it come to this 1 
Are we so humble, so low, so debased, that we 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 67 

dare not express our sympathy for suffering 
Greece ; that we dare not articulate our detesta- 
tion of the brutal excesses of which she has been 
the bleeding victim, lest we might offend one or 
more of their imperial and royal majesties ? 
Are we so mean, so base, so despicable, that we 
may not attempt to express our horror, utter 
our indignation, at the most brutal and atrocious 
war that ever stained eaith or shocked high 
heaven : at the ferocious deeds of a savasre and 
infuriated soldiery, stimulated and urged on by 
the clergy of a fanatical and inimical religion, 
and rioting in all the excesses of blood and 
butchery, at the mere details of which the heart 
sickens and recoils ? 

But, sir, it is not for Greece alone that I de- 
sire to see the measure adopted. It will give 
her but little support, and that purely of a moral 
kind. It is principally for America, for the 
credit and character of our common country, for 
our own unsullied name, that I hope to see it 
pass. What appearance, Mr. Chairman, on the 
page of history, would a record like this exhibit 1 ? 
" In the month of January, in the year of our 
Lord and Saviour 1824, while all European 
Christendom beheld, with cold and unfeeling in- 
difference, the unexampled wrongs and inex- 



68 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

pressible misery of Christian Greece, a proposi- 
tion was made in the congress of the United 
States, almost the sole, the last, the greatest de- 
pository of human hope and freedom, the repre- 
sentatives of a gallant nation, containing a mil- 
lion of freemen ready to fly to arms, while the 
people of that nation were spontaneously ex- 
pressing its deep toned feeling, and the whole 
continent, by one simultaneous emotion, was ris- 
ing, and solemnly and anxiously supplicating 
and invoking high heaven to spare and succor 
Greece, and to invigorate her arms, in her glo- 
rious cause, while temples and senate-houses 
were alike resounding with one burst of gene- 
rous and holy sympathy, — in the year of our 
Lord and Saviour, that Saviour of Greece and 
of us — a proposition was offered in the American 
congress to send a messenger to Greece, to in- 
quire into her state and condition, with a kind 
expression of our good wishes and our sympa- 
thies — and it was rejected !" Go home, if you 
can ; go home, if you dare, to your constituents, 
and tell them that you voted it down. Meet, if 
you can, the appalling countenance of those 
who sent you here, and tell them that you 
shrunk from the declaration of your own senti- 
ments : — that you cannot tell how, but that some 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 69 

unknown dread, some indescribable apprehen- 
sion, some indefinable danger, drove you from 
your purpose : — that the spectres of scimitars, 
and crowns, and crescents, gleamed before you, 
and alarmed you : — and that you suppressed all 
the noble feelings prompted by religion, by 
liberty, by national independence, and by hu- 
manity. I cannot, sir, bring myself to believe 
that such will be the feelings of a majority of 
this committee. But, for myself, though every 
friend of the cause should desert it, and I be left 
to stand alone with the gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts, I will give to his resolution the poor 
sanction of my unqualified approbation. 

THE RISE OF PARTIES. 

Considering: the situation in which this coun- 
try is now placed — a state of actual war with 
one of the most powerful nations on the earth — 
it may not be useless to take a view of the past, 
and of the various parties which have at different 
times appeared in this country, and to attend to 
the manner by which we have been driven from 
a peaceful posture to our present warlike atti- 
tude. Such an inquiry may assist in guiding us 
to that result, an honorable peace, which must 
be the sincere desire of every friend to America. 



70 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

The course of that opposition, by which the ad- 
ministration of the government has been unre- 
mittingly impeded for the last twelve years, is 
singular, and, I believe, unexampled in the his- 
tory of any country. It has been alike the duty 
and the interest of the administration to preserve 
peace. It was their duty, because it is necessa- 
ry to the growth of an infant people, to their ge- 
nius, and to their habits. It was their interest, 
because a change of the condition of the nation, 
brings along: with it a danger of the loss of the 
affections of the people. The administration has 
not been forgetful of these solemn obligations. 
No art has been left unessayed ; no experiment, 
promising a favorable result, left untried, to 
maintain the peaceful relations of the country. 
When, some six or seven years ago, the affairs 
of the nation assumed a threatening aspect, a 
partial non-importation was adopted. As they 
grew more alarming, an embargo was imposed. 
It would have accomplished its purpose, but it 
was sacrificed upon the altar of conciliation. 
Vain and fruitless attempt to propitiate ! Then 
came a law of non-intercourse ; and a general 
non-importation followed in the train. In the 
meantime, any indications of a return to the pub- 
lic law and the path of justice, on the part of ei- 
ther belligerent, are seized upon with avidity by 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 71 

the administration. The arrangement with Mr. 
Erskine is concluded. It is first applauded and 
then censured by the opposition. No matter 
with what unfeigned sincerity, with what real 
effort, administration cultivates peace, the oppo- 
sition insist that it alone is culpable for every 
breach that is made between the two countries. 
Because the President thought proper, in accept- 
ing the proffered reparation for the attack on a 
national vessel, to intimate that it would have 
better comported with the justice of the king, 
(and who does not think so ?) to punish the of- 
fending officer, the opposition, entering into the 
royal feelings, sees in that imaginary insult, 
abundant cause for rejecting Mr. Erskine's ar- 
rangement. On another occasion, you cannot 
have forgotten the hypercritical ingenuity which 
they displayed, to divest Mr. Jackson's corres- 
pondence of a premeditated insult to this coun- 
try. If gentlemen would only reserve for their 
own government half the sensibility which is in- 
dulged for that of Great Britain, they would 
find much less to condemn. Restriction after 
restriction has been tried : negotiation has been 
resorted to, until farther negotiation would have 
been disgraceful. Whilst these peaceful expe- 
riments are undergoing a trial, what is the con- 



72 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

duct of the opposition ] They are the champi- 
ons of war; the proud, the spirited, the sole re- 
pository of the nation's honor • the men of ex- 
clusive vigor and energy. The administration, 
on the contrary, is weak, feeble, and pusillani- 
mous — " incapable of being kicked into a 
war." The maxim, " not a cent for tribute, mil- 
lions for defence," is loudly proclaimed. Is the 
administration for negotiation ? The opposi- 
tion is tired, sick, disgusted with negotiation. 
They want to draw the sword and avenge 
the nation's wrongs. When, however, fo- 
reign nations, perhaps emboldened by the very 
opposition here made, refuse to listen to the 
amicable appeals, which have been repeated and 
reiterated by the administration, to their justice 
and to their interests ; when, in fact, war with 
one of them has become identified with our in- 
dependence and our sovereignty, and to abstain 
from it was no longer possible, behold the oppo- 
sition veering round, and becoming the friends of 
peace and commerce. They tell you of the ca- 
lamities of war, its tragical events, the squander- 
ing away of your resources, the waste of the 
public treasure, and the spilling of innocent 
blood. " Gorgons, hydras, and chimeras dire." 
They tell you that honor is an illusion ! Now 






BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

we see them exhibiting the terrific forms of the 
Marina king of the forest : now, the meekness 
and humility of the lamb ! They are for war 
and no restrictions, when the administration is 
for peace. They are for peace and restrictions 
when the administration is for war. You find 
them, sir, tacking with every gale, displaying the 
colors of every party and of all nations, steady 
only in one unalterable purpose, to steer, if pos- 
sible, into the haven of power. 

DEFENCE OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 

During all this time, the parasites of opposi- 
tion do not fail, by cunning sarcasm or sly innu- 
endo to throw out the idea of French influence, 
which is known to be false, which ought to be 
met in one manner only, and that is by the he 
direct The administration of this country de- 
voted to foreign influence ! The administration 
of this country subservient to France ! Great 
God ! what a change ! how is it so influenced ] By 
what ligament, on what basis, on what possible 
foundation, does it rest % Is it similarity of lan- 
guage % No ! we speak different tongues, we 
speak the English language. On the resem- 
blance of our laws ? No ! the sources of our 

7 



74 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

jurisprudence spring from another and a differ- 
ent country. On commercial intercourse 1 No ! 
we have comparatively none with France. Is 
it from the correspondence in the genius of the 
two governments 1 No ! here alone is the li- 
berty of man secure from the inexorable despot- 
ism, which every where else tramples it under 
foot. Where then is the ground of such an in- 
fluence 1 But, sir, I am insulting you by argu- 
ing on such a subject. Yet, preposterous and 
ridiculous as the insinuation is, it is propagated 
with so much industry, that there are persons 
found foolish and credulous enough to believe it. 

THE TRANSACTIONS OP EUROPE CONSIDERED. 

Throughout the period I have been speaking 
of, the opposition has been distinguished, amidst 
all its veerings and changes, by another inflexi- 
ble feature, the application to Bonaparte of every 
vile and opprobrious epithet, our language, copi- 
ous as it is in terms of vituperation, affords. He 
has been compared to every hideous monster 
and beast, from that mentioned in the revelations 
down to the most insignificant quadruped. He 
has been called the scourge of mankind, the de- 
stroyer of Europe, the great robber, the infidel, 
the modern Attila, and heaven knows by what 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 75 

other names. Really, gentlemen remind me of 
an obscure lady, in a city not very far off, who 
also took it into her head, in conversation with 
an accomplished French gentleman, to talk of 
the affairs of Europe. She too spoke of the 
destruction of the balance of power ; stormed 
and raged about the insatiable ambition of the 
emperor ; called him the curse of mankind, the 
destroyer of Europe. The Frenchman listened 
to her with perfect patience, and when she had 
ceased/saidto her, withineffable politeness, " Ma- 
dam, it would give my master, the emperor, infi- 
nite pain, if he knew how hardly you thought of 
him." Sir, gentlemen appear to me to forget 
that they stand on American soil ; that they are 
not in the British house of commons, but m the 
chamber of the House of Representatives of the 
United States ; that we have nothing to do with 
the affairs of Europe, the partition of territory 
and sovereignty there, except so far as these 
things affect the interests of our own country. 
Gentlemen transform themselves into the Burkes, 
Chathams, and Pitts, of another country ; and for- 
getting from honest zeal the interests of Ameri- 
ca engao-e with European sensibility in the dis- 
cussion °of European interests. If gentlemen 
ask me, whether I do not view with regret and 



76 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

horror the concentration of such vast power in 
the hands of Bonaparte — I reply, that I do. I re- 
gret to see the Emperor of China holding such 
immense sway over the fortunes of millions of our 
species. I regret to see Great Britain possess- 
ing so uncontrolled a command over all the wa- 
ters of our globe, if I had the ability to distribute 
among the nations of Europe their several por- 
tions of power and of sovereignty, I would say, 
that Holland should be resuscitated, and given 
the weight she enjoyed in the days of her De 
Witts. I would confine France within her natu- 
ral boundaries, the Alps, Pyrenees, and the 
Rhine, and make her a secondary naval power 
only. I would abridge the British maritime pow- 
er, raise Prussia and Austria to their original con- 
dition, and preserve the integrity of the empire 
of Russia. But these are speculations. I look 
at the political transactions of Europe, with the 
single exception of their possible bearing upon 
us, as I do at the history of other countries, or 
other times. I do not survey them with half the 
interest that I do the movements in South Ame- 
rica. Our political relation with them is much 
less important than it is supposed to be. I have 
no fears of French or English subjugation. If 
we are united, we are too powerful for the 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 77 

mightiest nation in Europe, or all Europe com- 
bined. If we are separated and torn asunder, 
we shall become an easy prey to the weakest of 
them. In the latter dreadful contingency, our 
country will not be worth preserving. 

THE CAUSE OF WAR WITH ENGLAND. 

I am far from acknowledging, that, had the or- 
ders in council been repealed, as they have 
been, before the war was declared, the declara- 
tion of hostilities would of course have been 
prevented. In a body so numerous as this is, 
from which the declaration emanated, it is im- 
possible to say, with any degree of certainty, 
what would have been the effect of such a re- 
peal. Each member must answer for himself. 
As to myself, I have no hesitation in saying, 
that I have always considered the impressment 
of American seamen, as much the most serious 
aggression. But, sir, how have those orders at 
last been repealed ] Great Britain, it is true, 
has intimated a willingness to suspend their 
practical operation, but she still arrogates to 
herself the right to revive them upon certain 
contingencies, of which she constitutes herself 
the sole judge. She waives the temporary use 
of the rod, but she suspends it in terrorem over 

7* 



78 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

our heads. .Supposing it to be conceded to gen- 
tlemen, that such a repeal of the orders in council 
as took place on the twenty-third of June last, 
exceptionable as it is, being known before the 
war was proclaimed, would have prevented it : 
does it follow, that it ought to induce us to lay 
down. our arms, without the redress of any 
other injury of which we complain % Does it 
follow, in all cases, that that which would in the 
first instance have prevented, would also ter- 
minate the war 1 By no means. It requires a 
strong and powerful effort in a nation, prone to 
peace as this is, to burst through its habits, and 
encounter the difficulties and privations of war. 
Such a nation ought but seldom to embark in a 
belligerent contest ; but when it does, it should 
be for obvious and essential rights alone, and 
should firmly resolve to extort, at all hazards, 
their recognition. The war of the revolution 
is an example of a war begun for one object, 
and prosecuted for another. It was waged, in 
its commencement, against the right asserted by 
the parent country to tax the colonies. Then 
no one thought of absolute independence. The 
idea of independence was repelled. But the 
British government would have relinquished the 
principle of taxation. The founders of our 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 79 

liberties saw, however, that there was no se- 
curity short of independence, and they achieved 
that independence. When nations are engaged 
in war, those rights in controversy, which are 
not acknowledged by the treaty of peace, are 
abandoned. 

THE CLAIMS OF ENGLAND ON AMERICAN SEAMEN . 

And who is prepared to say, that American 
seamen shall be surrendered, as victims, to the 
British principle of impressment 1 And, sir, 
what is this principle 1 She contends, that she 
has a right to the services of her own subjects ; 
and that, in the exercise of this right, she may 
lawfully impress them, even although she finds 
them in American vessels, upon the high seas, 
without her jurisdiction. Now I deny that she 
has any right, beyond her jurisdiction, to come 
on board our vessels, upon the high seas, for 
any other purpose than in the pursuit of enemies, 
or their goods, or goods contraband of war. 
But she farther contends, that her subjects can- 
not renounce their allegiance to her, and con- 
tract a new obligation to other sovereigns. I 
do not mean to go into the general question of 
the right of expatriation. If, as is contended, 
all nations deny it, all nations, at the same time, 



80 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

admit and practice the right of naturalization. 
Great Britain herself does this. Great Britain, 
in the very case of foreign seamen, imposes, 
perhaps, fewer restraints upon naturalization 
than any other nation. Then, if subjects cannot 
break their original allegiance, they may, ac- 
cording to universal usage, contract a new 
allegiance. What is the effect of this double 
•obligation ] Undoubtedly, that the sovereign 
slaving the possession of the subject, would have 
ihe right to the services of the subject. If he 
sreturn within the jurisdiction of his primitive 
sovereign, he may resume his right to his ser- 
vices, of which the subject, by his own act, could 
aiot divest himself. But his primitive sovereign 
can have no right to go in quest of him, out of 
Iiis own jurisdiction, into the jurisdiction of 
another sovereign, or upon the high seas where 
there exists either no jurisdiction, or it is pos- 
sessed by the nation owning the ship navigating 
tliem. But, sir, this discussion is altogether 
useless. It is not to the British principle, ob- 
jectionable as it is, that we are alone to look ; it 
is to her practice, no matter what guise she puts 
on. It is in vain to assert the inviolability of 
the obligation of allegiance. It is in vain to 
set up the plea of necessity, and to allege that 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 81 

she cannot exist without the impressment of her 
seamen. The naked truth is, she comes, by 
her press gangs, on board of our vessels, seizes 
our native as well as naturalized seamen, and 
drags them into her service. It is ihe case, then, 
of the assertion of an erroneous principle, and 
of a practice not conformable to the asserted 
principle — a principle which, if it were theo- 
retically right, must be forever practically wrong 
• — a practice which can obtain countenance from 
no principle whatever, and to submit to which, 
on our part, would betray the most ahject de- 
gradation. We are told, by gentlemen in the 
opposition, that government has not done all 
that was incumbent on it to do, to avoid just 
cause of complaint on the part of Great Britain ; 
that, in particular, the certificates of protection, 
authorized by the act of 1796, are fraudulently 
used. Sir, government has done too much in 
granting those paper protections. I can never 
think of them without being shocked. They 
resemble the passes which the master grants to 
his negro slave — " let the bearer, Mungo, pass 
and repass without molestation." "What do 
they imply ] That Great Britain has a right to 
seize all who are not provided with them. From 
their very nature they must be liable to abuse 



82 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

on both sides. If Great Britain desires a mark, 
by which she can know her own subjects, let 
her give them an ear-mark. The colors that 
float from the mast head should be the creden- 
tials of our seamen. There is no safety to us, 
and the gentlemen have shown it, but in the 
rule that all who sail under the flag, (not being 
enemies,) are protected by the flag, 

EULOGIUM ON JEFFERSON. 

Neither his retirement from public office, his 
eminent services, nor his advanced age, can ex- 
empt this patriot from the coarse assaults of par- 
ty malevolence. No, sir, in 1S01, he snatched 
from the rude hand of usurpation the violated 
constitution of his country, and that is his crime. 
He preserved that instrument in form, and sub- 
stance, and spirit, a precious inheritance for 
generations to come, and for this he can never 
be forgiven. How vain and impotent is party 
rage, directed against such a man ! He is not 
more elevated by his lofty residence upon the 
summit of his own favorite mountain, than he is 
lifted by the serenity of his mind and the con- 
sciousness of a well spent life, above the malig- 
nant passions and bitter feelings of the day. 
No ! his own beloved Monticello is not more 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 33 

moved by the storms that beat against its sides, 
than is this illustrious man, by the howlings of 
the whole British pack set loose from the Essex 
kennel ! When the gentleman, to whom I have 
been compelled to allude, shall have mingled 
his dust with that of his abused ancestors ; when 
he shall have been consigned to oblivion, or if 
he lives at all, shall live only in the treasonable 1 
annals of a certain junto ; the name of Jefferson 
will be hailed with gratitude, his memory hon- 
ored and cherished as the second founder of th© 
liberties of the people, and the period of his ad- 
ministration will be looked back to, as one of 
the happiest and brightest epochs of American 
history — an Oasis in the midst of a sandy desert. 

CLAIMS OF SEAMEN. 

It is impossible that this country should ever 
abandon the gallant tars, who have won for us 
such splendid trophies. Let me suppose that 
the genius of Columbia should visit one of them 
in his oppressor's prison, and attempt to re- 
concile him to his forlorn and wretched con- 
dition. She would sey to him, in the language 
of gentlemen on the other side : " Great Britain 
intends you no harm ; she did not mean to im- 
press you, but one of her own subjects ; having, 



84 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

taken you by mistake, I will remonstrate, and 
try to prevail upon her, by peaceable means, to 
release you, but I cannot, my son, fight for you." 
If he did not consider this mere mockery, the 
poor tar would address her judgment, and say, 
" you owe me, my country, protection ; I owe 
you, in return, obedience. I am no British sub- 
ject; I am a native of old Massachusetts, where 
live my aged father, my wife, my children. I 
have faithfully discharged my duty. Will you 
refuse to do yours V Appealing to her pas- 
sions, he would continue : " I lost this eye in 
fighting under Truxton, with the Insurgente ; I 
got this scar before Tripoli ; I broke this leg 
on board the Constitution, when the G-uerriere 
struck." If she remained still unmoved, he 
would break out, in the accents of mingled dis- 
tress and despair : 

Hard, hard is my fate ! once I freedom enjoyed, 

Was as happy as happy could be ! 

Oh ! how hard is my fate, how galling these chains ! 

T will not imagine the dreadful catastrophe to 
which he would be driven by an abandonment 
of him to his oppressor. It will not be, it can- 
not be, that his country will refuse him pro- 
tection. 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 85 

THE BRAVERY OF THE ARMY. 

The disasters of the war admonish us, we are 
told, of the necessity of terminating the contest. 
If our achievements by land have been less 
splendid than those of our intrepid seamen by 
water, it is not because the American soldier is 
less brave. On the one element, organization, 
discipline, and a thorough knowledge of their 
duties, exist, on the part of the officers and their 
men. On the other, almost every thing is yet 
to be acquired. We have, however, the con- 
solation, that our country abounds with the 
richest materials, and that in no instance, when 
ensragred inaction, have our arms been tarnished. 
At Brownstown and at Queenstown, the valor of 
veterans was displayed, and acts of the noblest 
heroism were performed. It is true, that the 
disgrace of Detroit remains to be wiped off. 
That is a subject on which I cannot trust my 
feelings; it is not fitting I should speak. But 
this much I will say, it was an event which no 
human foresight could have anticipated, and for 
which the administration cannot be justly cen- 
sured. It was the parent of all the misfortunes 
we have experienced on land. But for it, the 
Indian war would have been in a great measure 
prevented or terminated; the ascendency on 

8 



86 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

lake Erie acquired, and the war pushed cm per- 
haps to Montreal. With the exception of that 
event, the war, even upon the land, has been at- 
tended by a series of the most brilliant exploits, 
which, whatever interest they may inspire on this 
side of the mountains, have given the greatest 
pleasure on the other. The expedition, under 
the command of Governor Edwards and Colonel 
Russell, to lake Pioria, on the Illinois, was com- 
pletely successful. So was that of Captain 
Craig, who, it is said, ascended that river still 
higher. General Hopkins destroyed the pro- 
phet's town. We have just received intelligence 
of the gallant enterprise of Colonel Campbell. 
In short, sir, the Indian towns have been swept 
from the mouth to the source of the Wabash, 
and a hostile country has been penetrated far 
beyond the most daring incursions of any cam- 
paign during the former Indian war. Never 
was more cool, deliberate bravery displayed, 
than that by Newman's party from Georgia : 
and the capture of the Detroit, and the destruc- 
tion of the Caledonia, (whether placed to a 
maritime or land account,) for judgment, skill, 
and courage, on the part of Lieutenant Elliot, 
have never been surpassed. 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 87 

DUTY OF THE COUNTRY IN RELATION TO ENGLAND. 

The honorable gentleman from North Caro- 
lina, (Mr. Pearson,) supposes, that if Congress 
would pass a law, prohibiting the employment 
of British seamen in our service, upon condition 
of a like prohibition on their part, and repeal 
the act of non-importation, peace would im- 
mediately follow. Sir, I have no doubt, if such 
a law were to pass, with all the requisite solem- 
nities, and the repeal to take place, Lord Cas- 
tlereagh would laugh at our simplicity. No, 
sir, administration has erred in the steps which 
it has taken to restore peace, but its error has 
been, not in doing too little, but in betraying 
too great a solicitude for that event. An ho- 
norable peace is attainable only by an efficient 
war. My plan would be to call out the ample 
resources of the country, give them a judicious 
direction, prosecute the war with the utmost 
vigor, strike wherever we can reach the enemy, 
at sea or oti land, and negotiate the terms of a 
peace at Quebec or at Halifax. We are told that 
England is a proud and lofty nation, which, dis- 
daining to wait for danger, meets it half way. 
Haughty as she is, we once triumphed over her ; 
and, if we do not listen to the counsels of timidity 
and despair, we shall again prevail. In such a 



88 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

cause, with the aid of Providence, we must 
come out crowned with success ; but if we fail, 
let us fail like men, lash ourselves to our gallant 
tars, and expire together in one common strug- 
gle, fighting fox free trade and seamen's rights. 

ORIGIN OF THE SEMIxNTOLE WAR. 

In noticing the painful incidents of this war, 
it is impossible not to inquire into its origin. I 
fear that it will be found to be the famous trea- 
ty of Fort Jackson, concluded in August, 1 S14 ; • 
and I ask the indulgence of the chairman, that 
the clerk may read certain parts of that treaty. 
(The clerk having read as requested, Mr. Clay 
proceeded.) I never perused this instrument 
until within a few days past, and I read it with 
the deepest mortification and regret. A more 
dictatorial spirit I have never seen displayed in 
any instrument. I will challenge an examina- 
tion of all the records of diplomacy, not except- 
ing even those in the most haughty period of 
imperial Rome, when she was carrying her arms 
into the barbarian nations that surrounded her; 
and I do not believe a solitary instance can be 
found of such an inexorable spirit of domination 
pervading, a compact purporting to be a treaty 
of peace. It consists of the most severe and 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 89 

humiliating demands — of the surrender of large 
territory — of the privilege of making roads 
through the remnant which was retained — of 
the right of establishing trading houses — of the 
obligation of delivering into our hands their pro- 
phets. And all this, of a wretched people, re- 
duced to the last extremity of distress, whose 
miserable existence we had to preserve by a 
voluntary stipulation, to furnish them with 
bread ! When did the all-conquering and des- 
olating Rome ever fail to respect the altars and 
the gods of those whom she subjugated ! Let 
me not be told, that these prophets were impos- 
tors who deceived the Indians. They were their 
prophets — the Indians believed and venerated 
them, and it is not for us to dictate a religious 
belief to them. It does not belong to the holy 
character of the religion which we profess, to 
carry its precepts, by the force of the bayonet, 
into the bosoms of other people. Mild and gen- 
tle persusion was the great instrument employ- 
ed by the meek Founder of our religion. VVe 
leave to the humane and benevolent efforts of 
the reverend professors of Christianity to con- 
vert from barbarism those unhappy nations yet 
immersed in its gloom. But, sir, spare them 
their prophets ! spare their delusions ! spare 
8* 



90 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

their prejudices and superstitions ! spare even 
their religion, such as it is, from open and cruel 
violence. When, sir, was that treaty concluded % 
On the very day, after the protocol was signed, 
of the first conference between the American 
and British commissioners, treating of peace, at 
Ghent. In the course of that negotiation, pre- 
tensions so enormous were set up, by the other 
party, that, when they were promulgated in this 
country, there was one general burst of indigna- 
tion throughout the continent. Faction itself 
was silenced, and the firm and unanimous de- 
termination of all parties was, to fight until the 
last man fell in the ditch, rather than submit to 
such ignominious terms. What a contrast is ex- 
hibited between the cotemporaneous scenes of 
Ghent and of Fort Jackson ; what a powerful 
voucher would the British commissioners have 
been furnished with, if they could have got hold 
of that treaty ! The United States demand, The 
United States demand — is repeated five or six 
times. And what did the preamble itself dis- 
close 1 That two thirds of the Creek nation 
had been hostile, and one third only friendly to 
us. Now, I have heard, (I cannot vouch for the 
truth of the statement,) that not one hostile 
chief signed the treaty. I have also heard, that 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY- 91 

perhaps one or two of them had. If the treaty 
were really made by a minority of the nation, it 
was not obligatory upon the whole nation. It 
was void, considered in the light of a national 
compact. And if void, the Indians were enti- 
tled to the benefit of the provision of the ninth 
article of the treaty of Ghent, by which we 
bound ourselves to make peace with any tribes 
with whom we might be at war, on the ratifica- 
tion of the treaty, and to restore to them their 
lands as they held them in 1811. I do not know 
how the honorable Senate, that body for which 
I entertain so high a respect, could have given 
their sanction to the treaty of Fort Jackson, so 
utterly irreconcilable as it is with those noble 
principles of generosity and magnanimity which 
I hope to see my country always exhibit, and 
particularly toward the miserable remnant of 
the aborigines. It would have comported bet- 
ter with those principles, to have imitated the 
benevolent policy of the founder of Pennsylva- 
nia, and to have given to the Creeks, conquered 
as they were, even if they had made an unjust 
war upon us, the trifling consideration, to them 
an adequate compensation, which he paid for 
their lands. That treaty, I fear, has been the 
main cause of the recent war. And if it has 



92 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

been, it only adds another melancholy proof to 
those with which historv abounds, that hard and 
unconscionable terms, extorted by the power of 
the sword and the right of conquest, serves but 
to whet and stimulate revenge, and to give to 
old hostilities, smothered, not extinguished by 
the pretended peace, greater exasperation and 
more ferocity. A truce thus patched up with 
an unfortunate people, without the means of ex- 
istence, without bread, is no real peace. The 
instant there is the slighest prospect of relief 
from such harsh and severe conditions, the con- 
quered party will fly to arms, and spend the 
last drop of blood rather than live in such de- 
graded bondage. Even if you again reduce him 
to submission, the expenses incurred by this 
second war, to say nothing of the human lives 
that are sacrificed, will be greater than what it 
would have cost you to have granted him liberal 
conditions in the first instance. This treaty, I 
repeat it, was, I apprehend, the cause of the 
war. It led to those excesses on our southern 
borders which began it. 

CONDUCT OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS THE INDIANS. 

The first circumstance, which, in the course 
of his performing that duty, fixes our attention, 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 93 

fills me with regret. It is the execution of the 
Indian chiefs. How, I ask, did they come into 
our possession % Was it in the course of fair, 
and open, and honorable war % No, but by 
means of deception — by hoisting foreign colors 
on the staff from which the stars and stripes 
should alone have floated. Thus ensnared, the 
Indians were taken on shore, and without cere- 
mony, and without delay, were hung. Hang an 
Indian ! We, sir, who are civilized, and can 
comprehend and feel the effect of moral causes 
and considerations, attach ignominy to that 
mode of death. And the gallant, and refined, 
and high-minded man, seeks by all possible 
means to avoid, it. But what cares an Indian 
whether you hang or shoot him 1 The moment 
h*e is captured, he is considered by his tribe as 
disgraced, if not lost. They, too, are indifferent 
about the manner in which he is despatched. 
But, I regard the occurrence with grief for 
other and higher considerations. It is the first 
instance that I know of, in the annals of our 
country, in which retaliation, by executing In- 
dian captives, has ever been deliberately prac- 
tised. There may have been exceptions, but if 
there were, they met with contemporaneous 
condemnation, and have been reprehended by 



94 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

the just pen of impartial history. The gentle- 
man from Massachusetts may tell me, if he choo- 
ses, what he pleases about the tomahawk and 
scalping-knife — about Indian enormities, and 
foreign miscreants and incendiaries. I, too, hate 

o 

them ; from my very soul I abominate them. 
But I love my country, and its constitution ; I 
love liberty and safety, and fear military despo- 
tism more even than I hate these monsters. 
The gentleman, in the course of his remarks, 
alluded to the state from which I have the ho- 
nor to come. Little, sir, does he know of the 
high and magnanimous sentiments of the peo- 
pie of that state, if he supposes they will ap- 
prove of the transaction to which he referred. 
Brave and generous, humanity and clemency 
towards a fallen foe constitute one of their no- 
blest characteristics. Amidst all the struggles 
for that fair land between the natives and the 
present inhabitants, I defy the gentleman to 
point out one instance in which a Kentuckian 
has stained his hand by — nothing but my high 
sense of the distinguished services and exalted 
merits of General Jackson prevents my using 
a different term — the execution of an unarmed 
and prostrate captive. Yes, there is one solita- 
ry exception, in which a man, enraged at be- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 95 

holding an Indian prisoner, who had been cele- 
brated for his enormities, and who had destroy- 
ed some of his kindred, plunged his sword into 
his bosom. The wicked deed was considered 
as an abominable outrage when it occurred, and 
the name of the man has been handed down to 
the execration of posterity. 

BONAPARTE. 

What has been the conduct even of Engf- 
land towards the greatest instigator of all the 
wars of the present age 1 The condemnation of 
that illustrious man to the rock of St. Helena, is 
a great blot on the English name. And I re- 
peat what I have before said, that if Chatham 
or Fox, or even William Pitt himself, had been 
prime minister in England, Bonaparte had 
never been so condemned. On that transaction 
history will one day pass its severe but just 
censure. Yes, although Napoleon had desolated 
half Europe ; although there was scarcely a 
power, however humble, that escaped the migh- 
ty grasp of his ambition ; although in the course 
of his splendid career he is charged with having 
committed the greatest atrocities, disgraceful to 
himself and to human nature, yet even his life 
ha.3 been spared. The allies would not, Eng- 



96 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

land would not, execute him, upon the ground 
of his bein^ an instigator of wars. 



INFLUENCE OF BAD EXAMPLE. 

I will not dwell, at this time, on the effect of 
these precedents in foreign countries, but I will 
not pass unnoticed their dangerous influence in 
our own country. Bad examples are generally 
set in the cases of bad men, and often remote 
from the central government. It was in the 
provinces that were laid the abuses and the 
seeds of the ambitious projects which overturned 
the liberties of Rome. I beseech the committee 
not to be so captivated by the charms of elo- 
quence, and the appeals made to our passions 
and our sympathies, as to forget the fundament- 
al principles of our government. The influence 
of a bad example will often be felt, when its 
authors, and all the circumstances connected 
with it, are no longer remembered. 1 know of 
but one analogous instance of the execution of 
a prisoner, and that has brought more odium, 
than almost any other incident, on the unhappy 
emperor of France. I allude to the instance of 
the execution of the unfortunate member of the 
Bourbon house. He sought an asylum in the 
territories of Baden. Bonaparte despatched a 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 97 

corps of gens d'armcs to the place of his retreat, 
seized him and brought him to the dungeons of 
Vincennes. He was there tried by a court 
martial, condemned, and shot. There, as here, 
was a violation of neutral territory ; there the 
neutral ground was not stained with the blood 
of him whom it should have protected. And 
there was another most unfortunate difference 
for the American example. The duke D'Eng- 
hein was executed according to his sentence. 
It is said by the defenders of Napoleon, that the 
duke had been machinating not merely to over- 
turn the French government, but against the 
life of its chief. If that were true, he might, 
if taken in France, have been legally executed. 
Such was the odium brought upon the instru- 
ments of this transaction, that those persons, who 
have been even suspected of participation in it, 
have sought to vindicate themselves, from what 
they appear to have considered as an aspersion, 
before foreign courts. In conclusion of this 
part of the subject, I most cheerfully and en- 
tirely acquit General Jackson of any intention to 
violate the laws of the country, or the obligations 
of humanity. 1 am persuaded, from all that I 
ave heard, that he considered himself as equally 
respecting and observing both. With respect 



98 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

to the purity of his intentions, therefore, I am 
disposed to allow it in the most extensive de- 
gree. Of his acts, it is my duty to sneak with 
the freedom which belongs to my station. And 
I shall now proceed to consider some of them, 
of the most momentous character, as it regards 
the distribution of the powers of government. 

POWERS OF THE CONSTITUTION. 

Of all the powers conferred by the constitu- 
tion of the United States, not one is more ex- 
pressly and exclusively granted, than that which 
o-ives to Congress the power to declare war. 
The immortal convention who formed' that 
instrument, had abundant reason, drawn from 
every page of history, for confiding this tre- 
mendous power to the deliberate judgment of 
the representatives of the people. It was there 
seen that nations are often precipitated into 
ruinous war from folly, from pride, from ambi- 
tion, and from the desire of military fume. It 
was believed, no doubt, in committing this great 
subject to the legislature of the union, we should 
be safe from the mad wars that have afflicted 
and desolated and ruined other countries. It 
was supposed that before any war was declared, 
the nature of the injury complained of would 



BEAUTIES OP CLAY. 99 

be carefully examined, the power and resources 
of the enemy estimated, and the power and re- 
sources of our own country, as well as the pro- 
bable issue and consequences of the war. jt 
was to guard our country against precisely 
that species of rashness, which has been mani 
fested in Florida, that the constitution was so 
framed. If then this power, thus cautiously and 
clearly bestowed upon Congress, has been assu- 
med and exercised by any other functionary of 
the government, it. is cause of serious alarm, 
and it becomes this body to vindicate and main- 
tain its authority by all the means in its power ; 
and yet there are some gentlemen, who would 
have us not merely yield a tame and si! en 
acquiescence in the encroachment, but even 
pass a vote of thanks to the author. 

AGRICULTURAL CLAIMS. 

Our agricultural is our greatest interest. It 
ought ever to be predominant. Ail others 
should bend to it. And in considering what is 
for its advantage, we should contemplate it in 
all its varieties, of planting, farming, and grazing. 
Can we do nothing to invigorate it ; nothing to 
correct the errors of the past, and to brighten 
the still more unpromising prospects which lie 



100 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

before us ] We have seen, I think, the causes 
of the distresses of the country. We have seen, 
that an exclusive dependence upon the foreign 
market must lead to still severer distress, to im- 
poverishment, to ruin. We must then change 
somewhat our course. We must give a new 
direction to some portion of our industry. We 
must speedily adopt a genuine American policy. 
Still cherishing the foreign market, let us create 
also a home market, to give farther scope to the 
consumption of the produce of American in- 
dustry. Let us counteract the policy of foreign- 
ers, and withdraw the support which we now 
give to their industry, and stimulate that of our 
own country. It should be a prominent object 
with wise legislators, to multiply the vocations 
and extend the business of society, as far as it 
can be done, by the protection of our interests 
at home, against the injurious effects of foreign 
legislation. Suppose we were a nation of fish- 
ermen, or of skippers, to the exclusion of every 
other occupation, and the legislature had the 
power to introduce the pursuits of agriculture 
and manufactures, would not our happiness be 
promoted by an exertion of its authority ] All 
the existing employments of society — the learn- 



I 

BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 101 

ed professions — commerce — agriculture, are 
now overflowing:. 

LABOR THE SOURCE OF WEALTH. 

The great desideratum in political economy, 
is the same as in private pursuits ; that is, what 
is the best application of the aggregate industry 
of a nation, that can be made honestly to pro- 
duce the largest sum of national wealth % La- 
bor is the source of all wealth ; but it is not na- 
tural labor only. And the fundamental error of 
the gentleman from Virginia, and of the school 
to which he belongs, in deducing, from our 
sparse population, our unfitness for the introduc- 
tion of the arts, consists in their not sufficiently 
weighing the importance of the power of ma- 
chinery. In former times, when but little com- 
parative use was made of machinery, manual 
labor, and the price of wages, were circumstan- 
ces of the greatest consideration. But it is far 
otheiv is in these latter times. Such are the 
improvements and the perfection of machinery, 
that, in analyzing the compound value of many 
fabrics, the element of natural labor is so incon- 
siderable as almost to escape detection. This 
truth is demonstrated by many facts. Formerly, 

Asia, in consequence of the density of her popu- 

9* 



102 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

lation, and the consequent lowness of wages, 
laid Europe under tribute for many of her fab- 
rics. Now, Europe reacts upon Asia, and Great 
Britain, in particular, throws back upon her 
countless millions of people, the rich treasures 
produced by artificial labor, to a vast amount, 
infinitely cheaper than they can be manufactured 
by the natural exertions of that portion of the 
globe. But Britain is herself the most striking 
illustration of the immense power of machinery. 
Upon what other principle can you account for 
the enormous wealth which she has accumu- 
lated, and which she annually produces ! A 
statistical writer of that country, several years 
ago, estimated the total amount of the artificial 
or machine labor, of the nation, to be equal to 
that of one hundred millions of able-bodied 
laborers. Subsequent estimates of her artificial 
labor, at the present day, carry it to the enor- 
mous height of two hundred millions. But the 
population of the three kingdoms is twenty-one 
million, five hundred thousand. Supposing that, 
to furnish able-bodied labor to the amount of 
four millions, the natural labor will be but two 
per cent, of the artificial labor. In the produc- 
tion of wealth she operates, therefore, by a pow- 
er (including the whole population) of two hun- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 103 

dred and twenty-one million, five hundred thou- 
sand ; or, in other words, by a power eleven 
times greater than the total of her natural power. 
If we suppose the machine labor of the United 
States to be equal to that of ten millions of able- 
bodied men, the United States will operate, in 
the creation of wealth, by a power (including 
all their population) of twenty millions. 

THE RESOURCES OP ENGLAND. 

In the creation of wealth, therefore, the 
power of Great Britain, compared to that of the 
United States, is as eleven to one. That these 
views are not imaginary, will be, I think, evin- 
ced, by contrasting the wealth, the revenue, the 
power of the two countries. Upon what other 
hypothesis can we explain those almost incredi- 
ble exertions which Britain made during the 
late wars of Europe 1 Look at her immense 
subsidies ! Behold her standing, unaided and 
alone, and breasting the storm of Napoleon's 
colossal power, when all continental Europe 
owned and yielded to its irresistible sway ; and 
finally contemplate her vigorous prosecution of 
the war, with and without allies, to its splendid 
termination, on the ever-memorable field of 
Waterloo ! The British works, which the gen- 



104 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

tleman from Virginia has quoted, portray a state 
of the most wonderful prosperity, in regard to 
wealth and resources, that ever was before con- 
templated. Let us look a little into the semi- 
official pamphlet, written with great force, clear- 
ness, and ability, and the valuable work of Lowe, 
to both of which that gentleman has referred. 
The revenue of the United Kingdom amounted, 
during the latter years of the war, to seventy 
millions of pounds sterling ; and one year it rose 
to the astonishing height of ninety millions 
sterling, equal to four hundred millions of dol- 
lars. This was actual revenue, made up of real 
contributions from the purses of the people. 
After the close of the war, ministers slowly and 
reluctantly reduced the military and naval es- 
tablishments, and accommodated them to a state 
of peace. The pride of power, everywhere the 
same, always unwillingly surrenders any of 
those circumstances, which display its pomp 
and exhibit its greatness. Cotemporaneous with 
this reduction, Britain was enabled to lighten 
some of the heaviest burdens of taxation, and 
particularly that most onerous of all, the income 
tax. In this lowered state, the revenue of peace 
gradually rising from the momentary depression 
incident to a transition from war, attained, in 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 105 

1822, the vast amount of fifty-five millions ster- 
ling, upwards of two hundred and forty millions 
of dollars, and more than eleven times that of 
the United States for the same year ; thus indi- 
cating the difference, which I have suggested, 
in the respective productive powers of the two 
countries. The excise alone (collected under 
twenty-five different heads) amounted to twenty- 
eight millions, more than one half of the total 
revenue of the kingdom. This great revenue 
allows Great Britain to constitute an efficient 
sinking fund of five millions sterling, being an 
excess of actual income beyond expenditure, 
and amounting to more than the entire revenue 
of the United States. 

TAXATION. 

The amount of the contributions which she 
draws from the pockets of her subjects, is not 
referred to for imitation, but as indicative of 
their wealth. The burden of taxation is always 
relative to the ability of the subjects of it. A 
poor nation can pay but little. And the heavier 
taxes of British subjects, for example, in conse- 
quence of their greater wealth, may be easier 
borne than the much lighter taxes of Spanish 
subjects, in consequence of their extreme pover- 



106 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

ty. The object of wise governments should be, 
by sound legislation, so to protect the industry 
of their own citizens against the policy of foreign 
powers, as to give to it the most expansive 
force in the production of wealth. Great Bri- 
tain has ever acted, and still acts, on this policy. 
She has pushed her protection of British inter- 
est farther than any other nation has fostered its 
industry. The result is, greater wealth among 
her subjects, and consequently greater ability to 
pay their public burdens. If their taxation is 
estimated by their natural labor alone, nominally 
it is greater than the taxation of the subjects of 
any other power. But if on a scale of their na- 
tional and artificial labor compounded, it is less 
than the taxation of any other people. Estima- 
ting it on that scale, and assuming the aggregate 
of the natural and artificial labor of the United 
Kingdom to be what I have already stated, two 
hundred and twenty-one million, five hundred 
thousand, the actual taxes paid by a British sub- 
ject are only about three and seven pence ster- 
ling. Estimating our own taxes, on a similar 
scale, — that is, supposing both descriptions of 
labor to be equal to that of twenty millions of 
able-bodied persons,— the amount of tax paid 



BEAUTIES OP CLAY. 107 

by each soul in the United States is four and 
six pence sterling. 

THE NECESSITY OF PROTECTING INDUSTRY. 

The committee will observe, from that table, 
that the measure of the wealth of a nation is in- 
dicated by the measure of its protection of its 
industry ; and that the measure of the poverty of 
a nation is marked by that of the degree in 
which it neglects and abandons the care of its 
own industry, leaving it exposed to the action 
of foreign powers. Great Britain protects most 
her industry, and the wealth of Great Britain is 
consequently the greatest. France is next in 
the degree of protection, and France is next in 
the order of wealth. Spain most neglects the 
duty of protecting the industry of her subjects, 
and Spain is one of the poorest of European na- 
tions. Unfortunate Ireland, disinherited, or 
rendered in her industry subservient to Eng- 
land, is exactly in the same state of poverty with 
Spain, measured by the rule of taxation. And 
the United States are still poorer than either. 

The views of British prosperity, which I have 
endeavored to present, show that her protecting 
policy is adapted alike to a state of war and of 
peace. Self-poised, resting upon her own inter- 



XOS BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

nal resources, possessing a home market, care- 
fully cherished and guarded, she is ever prepa- 
red for any emergency. We have seen her 
coming out of a war of incalculable exertion, 
and of great duration, with her power unbroken, 
her means undiminished. We have seen, that 
almost every revolving year of peace has 
brought along with it an increase of her manu- 
factures, of her commerce, and, consequently, of 
her navigation. We have seen that, construct- 
ing her prosperity upon the solid foundation of 
her own protecting policy, it is unaffected by 
the vicissitudes of other states. What is our 
own condition 1 Depending upon the state of 
foreign powers — confiding exclusively in a fo- 
reign, to the culpable neglect of a domestic po- 
licy — our interests are affected by all their move- 
ments. Their wars, their misfortunes, are the 
only source of our prosperity. In their peace, 
and our peace, we behold our condition the re- 
verse of that of Great Britain — and all our in- 
terests, stationary or declining. Peace brings 
to us none of the blessings of peace. Our sys- 
tem is anomalous ; alike unfitted to general 
tranquillity, and to a state of war or peace, on 
the part of our own country. It can succeed 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 109 

only in the rare occurrence of a general state of 
war throughout Europe. 

1 am no eulogist of England. I am far from re- 
commending her systems of taxation. I have ad- 
verted to them only as manifesting her extraor- 
dinary ability. The political and foreign inter- 
ests of that nation may have been, as I believe 
them to have been, often badly managed. Had 
she abstained from the wars into which she has 
been plunged by her ambition, or the mistaken 
policy of her ministers, the prosperity of Eng- 
land would, unquestionably, have been much 
greater. But it may happen that the public 
liberty, and the foreign relations of a nation, 
have been badly provided for, and yet that its 
political economy has been wisely managed. 
The alacrity or sullenness with which a people 
pay taxes, depends upon their wealth or pover- 
ty. If the system of their rulers leads to their 
impoverishment, they can contribute but little 
to the necessities of the state ; if to their wealth, 
they cheerfully and promptly pay the burdens 
imposed on them. Enormous as British taxa- 
tion appears to be, in comparison with that of 
other nations, but really lighter, as it in fact is, 

when we consider its great wealth, and its pow- 

10 



110 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

ers of production, that vast amount is collected 
with the most astonishing regularity. 

THE TARIFF. 

And what is this tariff 1 It seems to have 
been regarded as a sort of monster, huge and 
deformed — a wild beast, endowed with tremen- 
dous powers of destruction, about to be let loose 
among our people — if not to devour them, at 
least to consume their substance. But let us 
calm our passions, and deliberately survey this 
alarming, this terrific being. The sole object 
of the tariff is to tax the produce of foreign in- 
dustry, with the view of promoting American 
industry. The tax is exclusively levelled at 
foreign industry That is the avowed and the 
direct purpose of the tariff. If it subjects any 
part of American industry to burdens, that is an 
effect not intended, but is altogether incidental, 
and perfectly voluntary. 

THE ADVANTAGES OF A FRODUCTIVE SYSTEM. 

But, according to the opponents of the do- 
mestic policy, the proposed system will force 
capital and labor into new and reluctant employ- 
ments ; we are not prepared, in consequence of 
the high price of wages, for the successful es- 
tablishment of manufactures, and we must fail in 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. ill 



the experiment. We have seen, that the ex- 
isting occupations of our society, those of agri- 
culture, commerce, navigation, and the learned 
professions, are overflowing with competitors, 
and that the want of employment is severely 
felt. Now what does this bill propose ] To 
open a new and extensive field of business, in 
which all that choose may enter. There is no 
compulsion upon any one to engage in it. An 
option only is given to industry, to continue in 
the present unprofitable pursuits, or to embark 
in a new and promising one. The effect will 
be to lessen the competition in the old branches 
of business, and to multiply our resources for 
increasing our comforts, and augmenting the 
national wealth. The alleged fact of the high 
price of wages is not admitted. The truth is, 
that no class of society suffers more, in the pre- 
sent stagnation of business, than the laboring 
class. That is a necessary effect of the depres- 
sion of agriculture, the principal business of 
the community. The wages of able-bodied men 
vary from five to eight dollars per month ; and 
such has been the want of employment, in some 
parts of the union, that instances have not been 
unfrequent, of men working merely for the 
means of present subsistence. If the wages for 



112 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

labor here and in England are compared, they 
will be found not to be essentially different. I 
agree with the honorable gentleman from Vir- 
ginia, that high wages are a proof of national 
prosperity ; we differ orrly in the means by 
which that desirable end should be attained. 
But, if the fact were true, that the wages of 
labor are high, I deny the correctness of the 
argument founded upon it. The argument as- 
sumes that natural labor is the principal element 
in the business of manufacture. r l hat was the 
ancient theory. But the valuable inventions 
and vast improvements in machinery, which 
have been made within a few past years, have 
produced a new era in the arts. The effect 
of this change, in the powers of production, 
may be estimated from what I have already 
stated, in relation to England, and to the tri- 
umphs of European artificial labor over the 
natural labor of Asia. In considering the fit- 
ness of a nation for the establishment of manu- 
factures, we must no longer limit our views to 
the state of its population, and the price of 
wao-es. All circumstances must be regarded, 

O '~ J 

of which that is, perhaps, the least important. 
Capital, ingenuity in the construction, and 
adroitness in the use of machinery, and the pos- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 113 

session of the raw materials, are those which 
deserve the greatest consideration. All these 
circumstances, (except that of capital, of which 
there is no deficiency,) exist in our country in 
an eminent degree, and more than counter- 
balance the disadvantage, if it really existed, of 
the lower wages of labor in Great Britain. 
The dependence upon foreign nations for the 
raw material of any great manufacture, has 
been ever considered as a discouraging fact. 
The state of our population is peculiarly favor- 
able to the most extensive introduction of ma- 
chinery. We have no prejudices to combat, 
no persons to drive out of employment. The 
pamphlet, to which we have had occasion so 
often to refer, in enumerating the causes which 
have broug-ht in Eng-land their manufactures to 
such a state of perfection, and which now en- 
able them, in the opinion of the writer, to defy 
all competition, does not specify, as one of 
them, low wages. It assigns three — first, capi- 
tal ; secondly, extent and costliness of machi- 
nery ; and, thirdly, steady and persevering in- 
dustry. Notwithstanding the concurrence of so 
many favorab'e causes, in our country, for the 
introduction of the arts, we are earnestly dis- 
suaded from making the experiment, and our 
10* 



1 14 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

ultimate failure is confidently predicted. Why 
should we fail 1 Nations, like men, fail in no- 
thing which they boldly attempt, when sustained 
by virtuous purpose, and firm resolution. I am 
not willing to admit this depreciation of Ameri- 
can skill and enterprise. I am not willing to 
strike before an effort is made. All our past 
history exhorts us to proceed, and inspires us 
with animating hopes of success. Past predic- 
tions of our incapacity have failed, and present 
predictions will not be realized. At the com- 
mencement of this government, we were told that 
the attempt would be idle to construct a marine 
adequate to the commerce of the country, or 
even to the business of its coasting trade. The 
founders of our government did not listen to 
these discouraging councils ; and, behold the 
fruits of their just comprehension of our re- 
sources ! Our restrictive policy was denoun- 
ced, and it was foretold that it would utterly 
disappoint all our expectations. But our re- 
strictive policy has been eminently successful ; 
and the share, which our navigation now enjoys 
in the trade with France, and with the British 
West India islands, attest its victory. What 
were not the disheartening predictions of the 
opponents of the late war 1 Defeat, discomfi- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 115 

ture, and disgrace, were to be the certain, bill 
not the worst, effect of it. Here, again, did 
piophesy prove false ; and the energies of our 
country, and the valor and the patriotism of our 
people, carried us gloriously through the war. 
"We are now, and ever will be, essentially, an 
agricultural people. Without a material change 
in the fixed habits of the country, the friends of 
this measure desire to draw to it, as a power- 
ful auxiliary to its industry, the manufacturing 
arts. The difference between a nation with 
and without the arts, may be conceived, by the 
difference between a keel-boat and a steam- 
boat, combating the rapid torrent of the Missis- 
sippi. How slow does the former ascend, hug- 
ging the sinuosities of the shore, pushed on by 
her hardy and exposed crew, now throwing 
themselves in vigorous concert on their oars, 
and then seizing the pendent boughs of over- 
hanging trees : she seems hardly to move ; and 
her scanty cargo is scarcely worth the transport- 
ation ! With what ease is she not passed by 
the steam-boat, laden with the riches from all 
quarters of the world, with a crowd of gay, 
cheerful, and protected passengers, now dashing 
into the midst of the current, or gliding through 
the eddies near the shore ! Nature herself 



HG BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

seems to survey, with astonishment, the passing 
wonder, and in silent submission, reluctantly to 
own the magnificent triumphs, in her own vast 
dominion, of Fulton's immortal genius ! 

THE ADVANCE OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

The gentleman from Virginia sought to alarm 
us by the awful emphasis with which he set be- 
fore us the total extent of post roads in the union. 
Eighty thousand miles of post roads ! exclaimed 
the gentleman : and will you assert for the gene- 
ral government jurisdiction, and erect turnpikes, 
on such an immense distance 1 Not to-day, nor 
to-morrow ; but this government is to last, I 
trust, forever : we may at least hope it will en- 
dure until the wave of population, cultivation, 
and intelligence, shall have washed the Rocky 
Mountains and mingled with the Pacific. And 
may we not also hope that the day will arrive 
when the improvements and the comforts of so- 
cial life shall spread over the wide surface of this 
vast continent 1 All this is not to be suddenly 
done. Society must not be burdened or op- 
pressed. Things must be gradual and progres- 
sive. The same species of formidable array 
which the gentleman makes, might be exhibited 
in reference to the construction of a navy, or any 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 117 

other of the great purposes of government. We 
might be told of the fleets and vessels of great 
maritime powers, which whiten the ocean ; and 
triumphantly asked if we should vainly attempt 
to cope with or rival that tremendous power ] 
And we should shrink from the effort, if we were 
to listen to his counsels, in hopeless despair. 
Yes, sir, it is a subject of peculiar delight to me 
to look forward to the proud and happy period, 
distant as it may be, when circulation and asso- 
ciation between the Atlantic and Pacific and the 
Mexican gulf, shall be as free and as perfect as 
they are at this moment in England, or in any 
other the most highly improved country on the 
globe. In the meantime, without bearing hea- 
vily upon any of our important interests, let us 
apply ourselves to the accomplishment of what 
is most practicable and immediately necessary. 

THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT. 

Of all the powers bestowed on this govern- 
ment, I think none are more clearly vested, than 
that to regulate the distribution of the intelli- 
gence, private and official, of the country ; to 
regulate the distribution of its commerce ; and 
to regulate the distribution of the physical force 
of the union. In the execution of the high and 
solemn trust which these beneficial powers im- 



118 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

ply, we must look to the great ends which the 
framers of our admirable constitution had in 
view. We must reject, as wholly incompatible 
with their enlightened and beneficent intentions, 
that construction of these powers which would 
resuscitate all the debility and inefficiency of the 
ancient confederacy. In the vicissitudes of hu- 
man affairs, who can foresee all the possible 
cases, in which it may be necessary to apply the 
public force, within or without the union 1 This 
government is charged with the use of it, to re- 
pel invasions, to suppress insurrections, to en- 
force the laws of the union ; in short, for all the 
unknown and undefinable purposes of war, fo- 
reign or intestine, wherever and however it may 
rage. During its existence, may not govern- 
ment, for its effectual prosecution, order a road 
t o be made, or a canal to be cut, to relieve, for 
example, an exposed point of the union] If, 
when the emergency comes, there is a power to 
provide for it, that power must exist in the con- 
stitution, and not in the emergency. A wise, 
precautionary, and parental policy, anticipating 
danger, will beforehand provide for the hour 
of need. Roads and canals are in the nature 
of fortifications, since, if not the deposites of 
military resources, they enable you to bring 
to rapid action, the military resources of the 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 119 

country, whatever they may be. They are 
better than any fortifications, because they 
serve the double purposes of peace and of 
war. They dispense, in a great degree, with 
fortifications, since they have all the effect 
of that concentration, at which fortifications aim. 
I appeal from the precepts of the President to 
the practice of the President. While he denies 
to Congress the power in question, he does not 
scruple, upon his sole authority, as numerons in- 
stances in the statute book will testify, to order, 
at pleasure, the opening of roads by the military, 
and then come here to ask us to pay for them. 
Nay, more, sir; a subordinate, but highly respect- 
able officer of the executive government, I be- 
lieve, would not hesitate to provide a boat or 
cause a bridge to be erected over an inconsider- 
able stream, to ensure the regular transporta- 
tion of the mail. And it happens to be within 
my personal knowledge, that the head of the 
post office department, as a prompt and vigilant 
officer should do, has recently dispatched an 
agent to ascertain the causes of the late frequent 
vexatious failures of the great northern mail, and 
to inquire if a provision of a boat or bridge over 
certain small streams in Maryland, which have 
produced them, would not prevent their recur- 
rence. 



120 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

CLAIMS OF THE WEST. 

If, by one of those awful and terrible dispen- 
sations of Providence, which sometimes occur, 
this government should be unhappily annihilated, 
every where on the seaboard traces of its former 
existence would be found ; whilst we should not 
have, in the west, a single monument remaining 
on which to pour out our affections and our re- 
grets. Yet, sir, we do not complain. No por- 
tion of your population is more loyal to the union, 
than the hardy freemen of the west. Nothing 
can weaken or eradicate their ardent desire for 
its lasting preservation. None are more prompt 
to vindicate the interests and rights of the nation 
from all foreign aggression. Need I remind you 
of the glorious scenes in which they participated, 
during the late war — a war in which they had 
no peculiar or direct interest, waged for no com- 
merce, no seamen of theirs. But it was enough 
for them that it was a war demanded by the cha- 
racter and the honor of the nation. They did 
not stop to calculate its cost of blood, or of trea- 
sure. They flew to arms ; they rushed down the 
valley of the Mississipi, with all the impetuosi- 
ty of that noble river. They sought the enemy. 
They found him at the beach. They fought j 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 121 

they bled ; they covered themselves and their 
country with immortal glory. They enthusias- 
tically shared in all the transports occasioned by 
our victories, whether won on the ocean or on 
the land. They felt, with the keenest distress, 
whatever disaster befel us. No, sir, I repeat it, 
neglect, injury itself, cannot alienate the affec- 
tions of the west from this government. They 
cling to it, as to their best, their greatest, their 
last hope. You may impoverish them, reduce 
them to ruin, by the mistakes of your policy, and 
you cannot drive them from you. They do not 
complain of the expenditure of the public money 
where the public exigencies require its disburse- 
ment. But, I put it to your candor, if you ought 
not, by a generous and national policy, to miti- 
gate, if not prevent, the evils resulting from the 
perpetual transfer of the circulating medium from 
the west to the east. One million and a half of dol- 
lars, annually, is transferred for the public lands 
alone : and almost every dollar goes like him who 
jjoes to death — to a bourne from which no travel- 
ler returns. In ten years it will amount to fif- 
teen millions ; in twenty, to but I will not 

pursue the appalling results of arithmetic. Gen- 
tlemen who believe that these vast sums are sup- 
plied by emigrants from the east, labor under 

11 



122 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

great error. There was a time when the tide 
of emigration from the east bore along with it 
the means to effect the purchase of the public 
domain. But that tide lias, in a great measure, 
now stopt. And as population advances farther 
and farther west, it will entirely cease. The 
greatest migrating states in the union at this 
time, are Kentucky first, Ohio next, and Tennes- 
see. The emigrants from those states carry 
with them, to the states and territories lying be- 
yond them, the circulating medium, which, being 
invested in the purchase of the public land, is 
transmitted to the points where the wants of go- 
vernment require it. If this debilitating and ex- 
hausting process were inevitable, it must be 
borne with manly fortitude. But we think that 
a fit exertion of the powers of this government 
would mitigate the evil. We believe that the 
government incontestibly possesses the constitu- 
tional power to execute such internal improve- 
ments as are called for by the good of the whole. 
And we appeal to your equity, to your parental 
regard, to your enlightened policy, to perform 
the high and beneficial trust thus sacredly 
reposed. I am sensible of the delicacy of the 
topic to which I have reluctantly adverted, in 
consequence of the observations of the honora- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 123 

ble gentleman from Virginia. And I hope there 
will be no misconception of my motives in dwell- 
ing upon it. A wise and considerate govern- 
ment slfbuld anticipate and prevent, rather than 
wait for the operation of causes of discontent. 

STATE OF TIIE COUNTRY. 

Mr. Chairman, — Although it is not entirely 
compatible with the precautions which are en- 
joined by the delicate state of my health, to 
which you have so obligingly alluded, to present 
myself in this attitude, I cannot refrain from 
making a public expression to you, and to my 
fellow citizens here assembled, of my profound 
acknowledgments for the hearty welcome, and 
cordial, spontaneous, and enthusiastic manifes- 
tation of respect and attachment, with which my 
present visit to your city has been attended. It 
has been frequently but not less truly said, that 
the highest reward for public service, is the ap- 
probation of the public. The support of public 
opinion is the greatest incentive to the faithful 
and beneficial discharge of official duty. If, as 
you have truly suggested, it has been my misfor- 
tune for several years, to have been abused and 
assailed without example, I have nevertheless 
had the satisfaction to have been cheered and 



124 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

sustained in all parts of the union, by some of 
the best and most virtuous men in it. And I 
seize with pleasure this occasion, to say, that 
even among my political opponents, many of the 
moderate and most intelligent, have done me 
the justice to discredit and discountenance the 
calumnies of which I have been the object. But 
no where have I found more constant, ardent, 
and effective friends, than in this city. I thank 
them most heartily for all their friendly senti- 
ments and exertions. 

Whatever may be the issue of the contest 
which, at present, unhappily divides and dis- 
tracts our country, I trust that the beneficial sys- 
tem, to which you have referred, will survive the 
struggle, and continue to engage the affections, 
and to cheer and animate the industry, of the 
people of the United States. It has indeed been 
recently attacked in another quarter of the union, 
by some of our fellow citizens, with a harshness 
and intemperance which must every where ex- 
cite the patriot's regret. It has been denounced 
as if it were a new system, that sprung into ex- 
istence but yesterday, or at least with the present 
administration, if not during the last session of 
congress. But it owes i*s origin to a much 
earlier date. The present administration, though 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 125 

sincerely attached to it, and most anxious for its 
pieservation, has not the merit of having first 
proposed or first established it. The manufac- 
turing system was quickened into existence by 
the commercial restrictions which preceded the 
late war with Great Britain, and by that greatest 
of them all, the war itself. Our wants, no longer 
supplied from abroad, must have been supplied 
at home, or we must have been deprived of the 
necessaries and comforts of civilization, if we 
had not relapsed into a state of barbarism. The 
policy of Jefferson and Madison fostered, if it 
did not create, the manufactures of our country. 
The peace brought with it a glut of foreign fa- 
brics, whicli would have prostrated our establish- 
ments, if government had been capable of un- 
justly witnessing such a spectacle, without inter- 
posing its protective power. Protection, there- 
fore, was not merely called for by the substan- 
tial independence of our country, but it was a 
parental duty of government to those citizens 
who had been tempted by its restrictive policy 
to embark all their hopes and fortunes in the 
business of manufacturing. Twelve years ago 
congress took up the subject, and, after long and 
mature deliberation, solemnly decided to extend 
that measure of protection which was alike de- 
ll* 



126 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

manded by sound policy and strict justice. Then 
the foundations were laid of the American Sys- 
tem ; and all that has been subsequently done, 
including- the act of the last session of con- 
gress, are but the consequences of the policy 
then deliberately adopted, having for their ob- 
ject the improvement and perfection- of the great 
work then began. It is not the least remarkable 
of the circumstances of these strange times, that 
some who assisted, in the commencement, who 
laid corner stones of the edifice, are now ready 
to pull down and demolish it. 

It is not the fact of the existence of an oppo- 
sition to the tariff, that can occasion any inqui- 
etude ; nor that of large and respectable assem- 
blies of the people, to express their disapproba- 
tion of the policy, and their firm resolution to 
consume only the produce of their own industry. 
These meetings are in the true spirit of our free 
institutions, and that resolution is in the true 
spirit of our iVmerican system itself. But what 
must excite deep regret is, that any persons 
should allow themselves to speak of open and 
forcible resistance to the government of their 
country, and to threaten a dissolution of the 
union. What is the state of the case ] A great 
measure of national policy is proposed : it is a 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 127 

subject of discussion for a period of twelve years 
in the public prints, in popular assemblies, in 
political circles, and in the congress of the Uni- 
ted States. That body, after hearing the wishes 
and wants of all parts of the union, fairly stated 
by their respective representatives, decides by 
repeated ?najorities, to adopt the measure. It is 
accordingly put into successful operation ; impro- 
ved from time to time, and is rapidly fulfilling 
all the hopes and expectations of its friends. 
In this encouraging' condition of things, a small 

CD CD CD 

number of the citizens composing the minority, 
(for I will not impute to the great body of the 
minority any such violent purposes,) threaten the 
employment of force, and the dissolution of the 
union ! Can any principle be more subversive 
of all government, or of a tendency more excep- 
tionable and alarming? It amounts to this, that 
whenever any portion of the community finds it- 
self in a minority, in reference to any important 
act of the government, and by high coloring and 
pictures of imaginary distress, can persuade it- 
self that the measui'e is oppressive, that minori- 
ty may appeal to arms, and, if it can, dissolve the 
union. Such a principle would reverse the es- 
tablished maxim of representative government, 
according to which, the will of the majority 



128 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

must prevail. If it were possible that the mi- 
nority could govern and control, the union may, 
indeed, as well be dissolved : for it would not 
then be worth preserving. The conduct of an 
individual would not be more unwise and suici- 
dal, who, because of some trifling disease afflict- 
ing his person, should, in a feverish and fretful 
moment, resolve to terminate his existence. 

THE UNION. 

Nothing can be more unfair and ridiculous, 
than to compare any of the acts of the congress 
of the United States, representing all, and acting 
for all, to any of the acts of the British parlia- 
ment, which led to our revolution. The principle 
on which the colonies receded was, that there 
should be no taxation without representation. 
They were not represented in the British par- 
liament, and to have submitted to taxation would 
have been to have submitted to slavery, and to 
have surrendered the most valuable privileges 
of freemen. If the colonies had been fairly re- 
presented in the British parliament, and equal 
taxes, alike applicable to all parts of the British 
empire, had been imposed by a majority, a case 
of remote analogy to any act of congress to 
which a minority is opposed, might be deduced 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 129 

from the history of the revolution. But every 
state of this confederacy is fairly represented, 
and has the faculty of being fully heard in the 
congress of the United States. The representa- 
tion has been regulated by a joint principle of 
distribution, the result of a wise spirit of mutual 
compromise and concession, which I hope never 
to see disturbed, of which none can justly com- 
plain, and least of all, those citizens who have 
resorted to threats of an appeal to arms and 

disunion. 

But there is, I hope and believe, no reason to 
apprehend the execution of those empty threats. 
The good sense, the patriotism, and the high 
character of the people of South Carolina, are 
sure guarantees for repressing, without aid, any 
disorders, should any be attempted within her 
limits. The spirit of Marion, and Pickens, and 
Sumpter, of the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, and 
of Lowndes, yet survives, and animates the 
hio-h minded Carolinians. The Taylors and the 
Williams's, and their compatriots of the present 
day, will be able to render a just account of all, 
if there be any, who shall dare to raise their par- 
ricidal hands against the peace, the constitution, 
and the union of the states. Rebuked by public 
opinion— a sufficient correct! ve— and condemned 



130 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

by their own sober reflections, the treasonable 
purpose will be relinquished, if it were ever se- 
riously contemplated by any. 

I have no fears for the permanency of our 
union, whilst our liberties are preserved. It is 
a tough and strong cord, as all will find who 
shall presumptuously attempt to break it. It 
has been competent to suppress all the domes- 
tic insurrections, and to carry us safely through 
all the foreign wars with which we have been 
afflicted since it was formed, and it has come 
out of each with more strength and greater pro- 
mise of durability. It is the choicest political 
blessing which, as a people, we enjoy, and I 
trust and hope that Providence will permit us 
to transmit it, unimpaired, to posterity, through 
endless generations. 

DEFENCE OF SELF. 

Cultivating a farm in Kentucky, and having 
other objects of private concern, I have found it 
necessary, both on that account, and the relaxa- 
tion from official business, indispensable to the 
preservation of health, annually to visit this 
quarter of the union, during the period of my 
connexion with the executive of the United 
States. In these visits, I have frequently met 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 131 

large portions of my fellow citizens, upon their 
friendly and pressing invitations. My object 
has been called in question, and my motives as- 
sailed. It has been said that my purpose was 
electioneering. If it be intended to charge^ me 
with employing improper or dishonorable acts 
to secure any election, I deny the charge, and 
disclaim the purpose. I defy my most malig- 
nant enemies to show that I ever, during any 
period of my life, resorted to such acts to pro- 
mote my own election, or that of any other per- 
son. 1 have availed myself of these assemblies, 
and of other opportunities, to defend myself 
against an accusation, publicly made, and a 
thousand times repeated. I had a right to do 
this by the immutable laws of self-defence. My 
addresses to the public, heretofore, have been 
generally strictly defensive. If they have ever 
given pain to any of my adversaries, they must 
reproach themselves with its infliction. There 
is one way, and but one way, in which they can 
silence me. My traducers have attributed to 
me great facility in making a bargain. Whe- 
ther I possess it or not, there is one bargain 
which, for their accommodation, I am willing to 
enter into with them. Tf they will prevail upon 
their chief to acknowledge that he has been in 



132 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

error, and has done me injustice, and if they 
will cease to traduce and abuse me, 1 will no 
longer present myself before public assemblies, 
or in public prints, in my own defence. That 
is one bargain which I have no expectation of 
beino- able to conclude; for men who are in a 
lonsr established line of business, will not volun- 
tarily quit their accustomed trade, and acknow- 
ledge themselves bankrupts to honor, decency, 
and truth. 

Some have persuaded themselves, that they 
saw in my occasional addresses to the people, 
incompatibility with the dignity and reserve be- 
longing to the office I hold. I know not accord- 
ing to what standard (it can hardly be any ^de- 
duced from a popular representative govern- 
ment) these gentlemen have regulated their 
opinions. True dignity appears to me to be in- 
dependent of office or station. It belongs to 
every condition ; but, if there be a difference be- 
tween private and public life, the more exalted 
the station, the greater is the obligation of the 
public functionary, in my humble judgment, to 
render himself amiable, affable, and accessible. 
The public officer who displays a natural solici- 
tude to defend himself against a charge deeply 
affecting his honor and his character, manifests, 



■ 1 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 133 

at the same time, a just respect for the commu- 
nity. It is, I think, an erroneous judgment of 
the nature of office, and its relations, to suppose 
that it imposes the duty on the officer, of ab- 
stracting himself from society, and a stiff and 
stately port. Without, I hope, forgetting what 
was due to myself, my habit, throughout life, 
has been that of friendly, free, and frank inter- 
course with my fellow citizens. I have not 
thought it necessary to change my personal iden- 
tity in any of the various offices through which I 
have passed, or to assume a new character. It 
may not be easy to draw the line, as to the occa- 
sions in which a man should remain silent or de- 
fend himself. In the general, it is better, per- 
haps, that he should leave his public acts, and 
the measures which he espouses or carries, to 
their own vindication ; but if his integrity be 
questioned, and dishonorable charges, under 
hio-h and imposing names, be preferred against 
him, he cannot remain silent without a culpable 
insensibility to all that is valuable in human life 
Sir, I feel that I have trespassed too much 
both upon you and myself. If prudence were a 
virtue of which I could boast, I should have spa- 
red both you and me. But I could not deny 
myself the gratification of expressing my thanks 
12 



134 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

to ray Cincinnati friends, for the numerous in- 
stances which I have experienced of their kind 
and respectful consideration. I beg you, sir, 
and every gentleman here attending, to accept 
my acknowledgments ; and I especially owe 
them to the gentlemen of the committee, who 
did me the honor to meet me at Louisville, and 
accompany me to this city. Whatever may be 
my future destiny, whilst my faculties are pre- 
served, I shall cherish a proud and grateful re- 
collection of these testimonies of respect and at- 
tachment. 

DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 

In inculcating the advantages of domestic ma- 
nufactures, it never entered the head, 1 presume, 
of any one, to change the habits of the nation 
from an agricultural to a manufacturing com- 
munity. No one, I am persuaded, ever thought 
of converting the plough-share and the sickle in- 
to the spindle and the shuttle. And yet this is 
the delusive and erroneous view too often taken 
of the subject. The opponents of the manufac- 
turing system transport themselves to the es- 
tablishments of Manchester and Birmintrham, 
and dwelling on the indigence, vice, and wretch- 
edness prevailing there, by pushing it to an ex- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 135 

trcme, argue that its introduction into this country- 
will necessarily be attended by the same mischie- 
vous and dreadful consequences. But what is 
the fact ] That England is a manufacturer of a 
great part of the world ; and that, even there, 
the numbers thus employed bear an inconsidera- 
ble proportion to the whole mass of population. 
Were we to become the manufacturers of other 
nations, effects of the same kind might result. 
But if we limit our efforts by our own wants, 
the evils apprehended would be found to be chi- 
merical. The invention and improvement of 
machinery, for which the present age is so re- 
markable, dispensing in a great degree with ma- 
nual labor ; and the employment of those per- 
sons, who, if we were engaged in the pursuit of 
agriculture alone, would be either unproductive, 
or exposed to indolence and immorality, will en- 
able us to supply our wants without withdraw- 
ing our attention from agriculture, that first and 
greatest source of national wealth and happiness. 
A judicious American farmer, in the household 
way, manufactures whatever is requisite for his 
family. He squanders but little in the gewgaws 
of Europe. He presents in epitome what the 
nation ousdit to be in extcnso. Their manufac- 

O 

tories should bear the same proportion, and ef- 



136 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

feet the same object, in relation to the whole com- 
munity, which the part of his household employ- 
ed in domestic manufacturing, bears to the whole 
family. It is certainly desirable that the ex- 
ports of the country should continue to be the 
surplus production of tillage, and not become 
those of manufacturing establishments. But it 
is important to diminish our imports — to furnish 
ourselves with clothing, made by our industry — 
and to cease to be dependent, for the very coats 
we wear, upon a foreign and perhaps inimical 
country. The nation that imports its clothing 
from abroad, is but little less dependent than if 
it imported its bread. 

The fallacious course of reasoning urged 
against domestic manufactures, namely, the dis- 
tress and servitude produced by those of Eng- 
land, would equally indicate the propriety of 
abandoning agriculture itself. Were you to 
cast your eyes upon the miserable peasantry of 
Poland, and revert to the days of feudal vassal- 
age, you might thence draw numerous argu- 
ments of the kind now under consideration 
against the pursuits of the husbandman ! What 
would become of commerce, the favorite theme 
of some gentlemen, if assailed with this sort of 
weapon ] The fraud, perjury, cupidity, and cor- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. I37 

ruption with which it is unhappily too often at- 
tended, would at once produce its overthrow. 
In short, sir, take the black side of the picture, 
and every human occupation will be found preg- 
nant with fatal objections. 

The opposition to manufacturing institutions 
recalls to my recollection the case of a gen- 
tleman, of whom I have heard. He had been in 
the habit of supplying his table from a neigh- 
boring cook and confectioner's shop, and pro- 
posed to his wife a reform, in this particular. 
She revolted at the idea. The sight of a scul- 
lion was dreadful, and her delicate nerves could 
not bear the clattering of kitchen furniture. 
The gentleman persisted in his design ; his ta- 
ble was thenceforth cheaper and better supplied, 
and his neighbor, the confectioner, lost one of 
his best customers. In like manner, Dame Com- 
merce will oppose domestic manufactures. She 
is a flirting, flippant, noisy jade, and if we 
are governed by her phantasies, we shall never 
put off the muslins of India and the cloths of 
Europe. But I trust that the yeomanry of the 
country, the true and genuine landlords of this 
tenement, called the United States, disregarding 
her freaks, will persevere in reform, until the 

12* 



138 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

whole national family is furnished by itself with 
the clothing necessary for its own use. 

It is a subject no less of curiosity than of in- 
terest, to trace the prejudices in favor of foreign 
fabrics. In our colonial condition, we were in a 
complete state of dependence on the parent 
country, as it respected manufactures, as well 
as commerce. For many years after the war, 
such was the partiality for her productions, in 
this country, that a gentleman's head could not 
withstand the influence of solar heat, unless co- 
vered with a London hat — his feet could not bear 
the pebbles, or frost, unless protected by Lon- 
don shoes — and the comfort or ornament of 
his person was only consulted when his coat was 
cut out by the shears of a tailor " just from Lon- 
don." At length, however, the wonderful dis- 
covery has been made, that it is not absolutely 
beyond the reach of American skill and inge- 
nuity, to provide these articles, combining with 
equal elegance, greater durability. And I en- 
tertain no doubt that, in a short time, the no 
less important fact will be developed, that the 
domestic manufactories of the United States, 
fostered by government, and aided by household 
exertions, are fully competent to supply us with 
at least every necessary article of clothing. I 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 139 

therefore, sir, for one, (to use the fashionable 
cant of the day,) am in favor of encouraging 
them, not to the extent to which they are car- 
ried in England, but to such an extent as will 
redeem us entirely from all dependence on fo- 
reign countries. There is a pleasure — a pride, 
(if I may be allowed the expression, and I pity 
those who cannot feel the sentiment,) in being 
clad in the productions of our own families. 
Others may prefer the cloths of Leeds and of 
London, but give me those of Humphreysville. 

NATIONAL SPIRIT. 

Are you prepared to see a foreign power 
seize what belongs to us 1 I have heard in the 
most credible manner that, about the period 
when the President took his measures in rela- 
tion to that country, agents of a foreign power 
were intriguing with the people there, to induce 
them to come under his dominion ; but whether 
this be the fact or not, it cannot be doubted, 
that if you neglect the present auspicious mo- 
ment — if you reject the proffered boon, some 
other nation, profiting by your errors, will seize 
the occasion to get a fatal footing in your south- 
ern frontier. I have no hesitation in saying, 
that if a parent country will not or cannot main- 



140 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

tain its authority in a colony adjacent to us, and 
there exists in it a state of misrule and disorder, 
menacing our peace, and if moreover such co- 
lony, by passing into the hands of any other 
power, would become dangerous to the integrity 
of the union, and manifestly tend to the subver- 
sion of our laws ; we have a right upon the eternal 
principles of self-preservation, to lay hold upon 
it. This principle alone, independent of any 
title, would warrant our occupation of West 
Florida. But it is not necessary to resort to it, 
our title being in my judgment incontestibly 
good. We are told of the vengeance of resus- 
citated Spain. If Spain, under any modifica- 
tion of her government, chooses to make war 
upon us, for the act under consideration, the na- 
tion, I have no doubt, will be willing to embark 
in such a contest. But the gentleman reminds 
us that Great Britian, the ally of Spain, may be 
obliged, by her connexion with that country, to 
take part with her against us, and to consider 
this measure of the President as justifying an 
appeal to arms. Sir, is the time never to arrive 
when we may manage our own affairs without 
the fear of insulting His Britannic Majesty ] Is 
the rod of British power to be forever suspend- 
ed over our heads 1 Does congress put on 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 141 

an embargo to shelter our rightful commerce 
against the piratical depredations committed up- 
on it on the ocean ? We are immediately warn- 
ed of the indignation of offended England. Is 
a law of non-intercourse proposed 1 The whole 
navy of the haughty mistress of the seas is 
made to thunder in our ears. Does the Presi- 
dent refuse to continue a correspondence with a 
minister who violates the decorum belonging to 
his diplomatic character, by giving and deliber- 
ately repeating an affront to the whole nation 1 
We are instantly menaced with the chastise- 
ment which English pride will not fail to inflict. 
Whether we assert our rights by sea or attempt 
their maintenance by land — whithersoever we 
turn ourselves, this phantom incessantly pursues 
us. Already has it had too much influence on 
the councils of the nation. It contributed to 
the repeal of the embargo — that dishonorable 
repeal, which has so much tarnished the charac- 
ter of our government. 

THE POWER OF WEALTH. 

The power of a nation is said to consist in 
the sword and the purse. Perhaps at last al* 
power is resolvable into that of the purse, for 
with it you may command almost every thing 



142 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

else. The specie circulation of the United 
States is estimated by some calculators at ten 
millions of dollars, and if it be no more, one 
moiety is in the vaults of this bank. May not the 
time arrive, when the concentration of such a 
vast portion of the circulating medium of the 
country in the hands of any corporation, will be 
dangerous to our liberties'? By whom is this 
immense power wielded 1 By a body, who, in 
derogation of the great principle of all our in- 
stitutions, responsibility to the people, is ame- 
nable only to a few stockholders, and they chiefly 
foreigners. Suppose an attempt to subvert this 
government — would not the traitor first aim by 
force or corruption to acquire the treasure of 
this company % Look at it in another aspect. 
Seven tenths of its capital are in the hands of 
foreigners, and these foreigners chiefly English 
subjects. We are possibly on the eve of a 
rupture with that nation. Should such an event 
occur, do you apprehend that the English pre- 
mier would experience any difficulty in obtain- 
\w<y the entire control of this institution ? Re- 
publics, above all other governments, ought most 
seriously to guard against foreign influence. All 
history proves that the internal dissensions ex- 
cited by foreign intrigue, have produced the 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 143 

downfall of almost every free government that 
has hitherto existed ; and yet, gentlemen contend 
that we are benefited by the possession of this 
foreign capital ! If we could have its use, with- 
out its attending abuse, I should be gratified 
also. But it is in vain to expect the one with- 
out the other. Wealth is power, and, under 
whatsoever form it exists, its proprietor, whether 
he lives on this or the other side of the Atlantic, 
will have a "proportionate influence. It is ar- 
gued, that our possession of this English capital 
gives us a great influence over the British go- 
vernment. If this reasoning be sound, we had 
better revoke the interdiction as to aliens hold- 
ing land, and invite foreigners to engross the 
whole property, real and personal, of the coun- 
try. We had better at once exchange the con- 
dition of independent proprietors for that of 
stewards. We should then be able to govern 
foreign nations, according to the reasoning of 
the gentlemen on the other side. But let us put 
aside this theory, and appeal to the decisions of 
experience. Go to the other side of the Atlan- 
tic, and see what has been achieved for us there, 
by Englishmen holding seven tenths of the capi- 
t al of this bank. Has it released from galling 
and ignominious bondage one solitary American 



144 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

seaman, bleeding under British oppression ] Did 
it prevent the unmanly attack upon the Chesa- 
peake 1 Did it arrest the promulgation, or has 
it abrogated the orders in council — those orders 
which have given birth to a new era in com- 
merce 1 In spite of all its boasted effect, are 
not the two nations brought to the very brink of 
war] Are we quite sure, that on this side of 
the water, it has had no effect favorable to Bri- 
tish interests. 

NECESSITY OF A NAVAL FORCE. 

The shepherd and his faithful dog are not 
more necessary to guard the flocks that browze 
and gambol on the neighbouring mountain. He 
considered the prosperity of foreign commerce 
indissolubly allied to marine power Neglect 
to provide the one, and you must abandon the 
other. Suppose the expected war with Eng- 
land is commenced, you enter and subjugate 
Canada, and she still refuses to do you justice 
— what other possible mode will remain to 
operate on the enemy but upon that element 
where alone you can then come in contract 
with him ? And if you do not prepare to pro- 
tect there your own commerce and to assail his, 
will he not sweep from the ocean every vessel 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 145 

bearing your flag, and destroy even the coasting 
trade 1 But from the arguments of gentlemen, 
it would seem to be questioned if foreign com- 
merce is worth the kind of protection insisted 
upon. What is this foreign commerce that has 
suddenly become so inconsiderable ? It has, 
with very trifling aid from other sources, de- 
frayed the expenses of government ever since 
the adoption of the present constitution — main- 
tained an expensive and successful war with 
the Indians — a war with the Barbary powers — 
a quasi war with France — sustained the charges 
of suppressing two insurrections, and extinguish- 
ing upwards of forty-six millions of the public 
debt. In revenue it has, since the year 17S9, 
yielded one hundred and ninety-one millions of 
dollars. During the first four years after the 
commencement of the present government, the 
revenue averaged only about two millions annu- 
ally — during a subsequent period of four years, 
it rose to an average of fifteen millions annually, 
or became equivalent to a capital of two hun- 
dred and fifty millions of dollars, at an interest 
of six per centum per annum. And if our com- 
merce is re-established it will, in the course of 
time, nett a sum for which we are scarcely fur- 
nished with figures in arithmetic. Taking the 
13 



146 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

average of the last nine years, (comprehending 
of course the season of the embargo,) our ex- 
ports average upwards of thirty-seven millions 
of dollars, which is equivalent to a capital of 
more than six hundred millions of dollars at six 
per centum interest, all of which must be lost 
in the event of a destruction of foreign com- 
merce. In the abandonment of that commerce, 
is also involved the sacrifice of our brave tars, 
who have engaged in the pursuit from which 
they derive subsistence and support, under the 
confidence that government would afford them 
that just protection which is due to all. They 
will be driven into foreign employment, for it 
is vain to expect that they will renounce their 
habits of life. 

POLICY OF SPAIN. 

Three hundred years ago, upon the ruins of 
the thrones of Montezuma and the Incas of Pe- 
ru, Spain erected the most stupendous system 
of colonial despotism that the world has ever 
seen : the most vigorous, the most exclusive. 
The great principle and object of this system, 
has been to render one of the largest portions 
of the world exclusively subservient, in all its 
faculties, to the interests of an inconsiderable 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 147 

spot in Europe. To effectuate this aim of her 
policy, she locked up Spanish America from all 
the rest of the world, and prohibited, under the 
severest penalties, any foreigner from entering 
any part of it. To keep the natives themselves 
ignorant of each other, and of the strength and 
resources of the several parts of her American 
possessions, she next prohibited the inhabitants 
of one vice-royalty or government from visiting 
those of another; so that the inhabitants of Mexi- 
co, for example, were not allowed to enter the 
vice-royalty of New Grenada. The agriculture 
of those vast regions was so regulated and re- 
strained, as to prevent all collision with the in- 
terests of the agriculture of the peninsula. Where 
nature, by the character and composition of the 
soil, had commanded, the abominable system of 
Spain has forbidden, the growth of certain arti- 
cles. Thus, the olive and the vine, to which 
Spanish America is so well adapted, are prohi- 
bited, wherever their culture could interfere with 
the olive and the vine of the peninsula. The 
commerce of the country, in the direction and 
objects of the exports and imports, is also sub- 
jected to the narrow and selfish views of Spain, 
and fettered by the odious spirit of monopoly 
existing in Cadiz. She has sought, by scatter- 



148 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

ing discord among the several castes of her Ame- 
rican population, and by a debasing- course of 
education, to perpetuate her oppression. "What- 
ever concerns public law, or the science of go- 
vernment, all writers upon political economy, or 
that tend to give vigor and freedom and expan- 
sion to the intellect, are prohibited. Gentlemen 
would be astonished by the long list of distin- 
guished authors whom she proscribes, to be 
found in Depon's and other works. A main fea- 
ture in her policy, is that which constantly ele- 
vates the European and depresses the American 
character. Out of upwards of seven hundred 
and fifty viceroys and captains general, whom 
she has appointed since the conquest of America, 
about eighteen only have been from the body of 
the American population. On all occasions, she 
seeks to raise and promote her European sub- 
jects, and to degrade and humiliate the Creoles. 
Wherever in America her sway extends, every 
thing seems to pine and wither beneath its bane- 
ful influence. The richest regions of the earth ; 
man, his happiness and his education, all the fine 
faculties of his soul, are regulated and modified 
and moulded to suit the execrable purposes of 
an inexorable despotism. 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 149 



NECESSITY OF DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 

The wants of man may be classed under three 
great heads— food, raiment, and defence. They 
are felt alike in the state of barbarism and of 
civilization. He must be defended against the 
ferocious beasts of prey in the one condition, 
and against the ambition, violence, and injustice 
incident to the other. If he seeks to obtain a 
supply of those wants without giving an equiva- 
lent, he is a beggar or a robber ; if by promising 
an equivalent which he cannot give, he is fraud- 
ulent ; and if, by a commerce, in which there is 
perfect freedom on his side, whilst he meets with 
nothing but restrictions on the other, he submits 
to an unjust and degrading inequality. What is 
true of individuals is equally so of nations. 
The country, then, which relies upon foreign 
nations for either of those great essentials, is not, 
in fact, independent. Nor is it any consolation 
for our dependence upon other nations, that 
they also are dependent upon us, even were it 
true. Every nation should anxiously endeavor 
to establish its absolute independence, and con- 
sequently be able to feed and clothe and defend 
itself. If it rely upon a foreign supply, that 
may be cut off by the caprice of the nation yield- 
13* 



1/30 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

ing it, by war with it, or even by war with other 
nations, it cannot be independent. But it is not 
true that any other nations depend upon us in 
a degree any thing like equal to that of our de- 
pendence upon them, for the great necessaries 
to which I have referred. Every other nation 
seeks to supply itself with them from its own re- 
sources ; and so strong is the desire which they 
feel to accomplish this purpose, that they ex- 
clude the cheaper foreign article for the dearer 
home production. Witness the English policy 
in regard to corn. So selfish, in this respect, is 
the conduct of other powers, that, in some in- 
stances, they even prohibit the produce of the 
industry of their own colonies, when it comes 
into competition with the produce of the parent 
country. All other countries but our own ex- 
clude, by high duties, or absolute prohibitions, 
whatever they can respectively produce within 
themselves. The truth is, and it is in vain to 
disguise it, that we are a sort of independent 
colonies of England — politically free, commer- 
cially slaves. Gentlemen tell us of the advan- 
tages of a free exchange of the produce of the 
world. But they tell us of what has never 
existed, does not exist, and perhaps never will 
exist. They invoke us to give perfect freedom 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 15J 

on our side, whilst, in the ports of every other 
nation, we are met with a code of odious re- 
strictions, shutting out entirely a great part of 
our produce, and letting in only so much as they 
cannot possibly do without. I will hereafter 
examine their favorite maxim, of leaving things 
to themselves, more particularly. At present I 
will only say, that I too am a friend to free 
trade, but it must be a free trade of perfect re- 
ciprocity. If the governing consideration were 
cheapness, if national independence were to 
weigh nothing ; if honor nothing ; why not sub- 
sidize foreign powers to defend us 1 why not 
hire Swiss or Hessian mercenaries to protect 
us 1 why not get our arms of all kinds, as we 
do in part the blankets and clothing of our 
soldiers, from abroad] We should probably 
consult economy by these dangerous expedients. 

SLAVERY. 

We are reproached with doing mischief by 
the agitation of this question. The society goes 
into no household to disturb its domestic tran- 
quillity ; it addresses itself to no slaves to weak- 
en their obligations of obedience. It seeks to 
affect no man's property. It neither has the 
power nor the will to affect the property of any 



I'jO BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

one contrary to his consent. The execution of 
its scheme would augment instead of diminish- 
ing the value of the property left behind. The 
society, composed of free men, concerns itself 
only with the free. Collateral consequences we 
are not responsible for. It is not this society 
which has produced the great moral revolution 
which the age exhibits. What would they, who 
thus reproach us, have done 1 If they would 
repress all tendencies towards liberty and ulti- 
mate emancipation, they must do more than put 
down the benevolent efforts of this society. 
They must go back to the era of our liberty and 
independence, and muzzle the cannon which 
thunders its annual joyous return. They must 
revive the 3lave trade, with all its train of atro- 
cities. They must suppress the workings of Bri- 
tish philanthropy, seeking to meliorate the con- 
dition of the unfortunate West Indian slaves. 
Thpy must arrest the career of South American 
deliverance from thraldom. They must blow 
out the m >ral lights around us, and extinguish 
that greatest torch of all which America presents 
to a benighted world, pointing the way to their 
rights, their liberties, and their happiness. And 
when they have achieved all these purposes, 
their work will be yet incomplete. They must 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 153 

penetrate the human soul, and eradicate the light 
of reason and the love of liberty. Then, and 
not till then, when universal darkness and de- 
spair prevail, can you perpetuate slavery, and 
repress all sympathies, and all humane and be- 
nevolent efforts among freemen, in behalf of the 
unhappy portion of our race doomed to bond- 
age. 

Animated by the encouragement of the past, 
let us proceed under the cheering prospects 
which lie before us. Let us continue to appeal 
to the pious, the liberal, and the wise. Let us 
bear in mind the condition of our forefathers, 
when collected on the beach of England, they 
embarked, amidst the scoffings, and the false 
predictions of the assembled multitude, for this 
distant land ; and here, in spite of all the perils 
of forest and ocean, which they encountered, 
successfully laid the foundations of this glorious 
republic. Undismayed by the prophecies of the 
presumptuous, let us supplicate the aid of the 
American representatives of the people, and re- 
doubling our labors, and invoking the blessinp-s 
of an all-wise Providence, I boldly and confi- 
dently anticipate success. I hope the resolution 
which I offer will be unanimously adopted. 



154 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 



COLONIZATION. 

The object of the society was the colonization 
of the free colored people, not the slaves, of the 
country. Voluntary in its institution, voluntary 
in its continuance, voluntary in all its ramifica- 
tions, all its means, purposes, and instruments, 
are also voluntary. But it was said that no free 
colored persons could be prevailed upon to 
abandon the comforts of civilized life, and ex- 
pose themselves to all the perils of a settlement 
in a distant, inhospitable, and savage country ; 
that, if they could be induced to go on such a 
quixotic expedition, no territory could be pro- 
cured for their establishment as a colonv ; that 
the plan was altogether incompetent to effectu- 
ate its professed object ; and that it ought to be 
rejected as the idle dream of visionary enthusi- 
asts. The society has outlived, thank God, all 
these disastrous predictions. It has survived to 
swell the list of false prophets. It is no longer 
a question of speculation whether a colony can 
or cannot be planted from the United States, of 
free persons of color, on the shores of Africa. It 
is a matter demonstrated ; such a colony, in fact, 
exists, prospers, has made successful war, and 
honorable peace, and transacts all the multiplied 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 155 

business of a civilized and Christian community. 
It now has about five hundred souls, disciplined 
troops, forts, and other means of defence, sove- 
reignty over an extensive territory, and exerts a 
powerful and salutary influence over the neigh- 
boring clans. 

Numbers of the free African race among us 
are willing to go to Africa. The society has 
never experienced any difficulty on that subject, 
except that its means of comfortable transporta- 
tion have been inadequate to accommodate all 
who have been anxious to migrate. Why should 
they not go ? Here they are in the lowest state 
of social gradation — aliens — political — moral — 
social aliens, strangers, though natives. There, 
they would be in the midst of their friends and 
their kindred, at home, though born in a foreign 
land, and elevated above the natives of the coun- 
try, as much as they are degraded here below 
the other classes of the community. But on this 
matter, I am happy to have it in my power to 
furnish indisputable evidence from the most au- 
thentic source, that of large numbers of free per- 
sons of color themselves. Numerous meetings 
have been held in several churches in Baltimore, 
of the free people of color, in which, after being 
organized as deliberative assemblies, by the ap- 



15G BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

pointment of a chairman, (if not of the same 
complexion,) presiding as you, Mr. Vice-presi- 
dent, do, and secretaries, they have voted me- 
morials addressed to the white people, in which 
they have argued the question with an ability, 
moderation, and temper, surpassing any that I can 
command, and emphatically recommended the 
colony of Liberia to favorable consideration, as 
the most desirable and practicable scheme ever 
yet presented on this interesting subject. I ask 
permission of the society to read this highly cre^ 
ditable document. 

[Here Mr. Clay read the memorial referred 
to.] 

The society has experienced no difficulty in 
the acquisition of a territory, upon reasonable 
terms, abundantly sufficient for a most extensive 
colony. And land in ample quantities, it has 
ascertained, can be procured in Africa, together 
with all rights of sovereignty, upon conditions 
as favorable as those on which the United States 
extinguish the Indian title to territory within 
their own limits. 

In respect to the alleged incompetency of the 
scheme to accomplish its professed object, the 
society asks that that object should be taken to 
be, not what the imaginations of its enemies re- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 157 

present it to be, but what it really proposes. 
They represent that the purpose of the society 
is to export the whole African population of the 
United States, bond and free ; and they pro- 
nounce this design to be unattainable. They 
declare that the means of the whole country are 
insufficient to effect the transportation to Africa 
of a mass of population approximating to two 
millions of souls. Agreed : but that is not what 
the society contemplates. They have substi- 
tuted their own notion for that of the society. 
What is the true nature of the evil of the exist- 
ence of a portion of the African race in our popu- 
lation ? It is not that there are so??ie, but that 
there are so many among us of a different caste* 
of a different physical, if not moral, constitution, 
who never can amalgamate with the great body 
of our population. In every country, persons 
are to be found varying in their color, origin, 
and character, from the native mass. But this 
anomaly creates no inquietude or apprehension, 
because the exotics, from the smallhess of their 
number, are known to be utterly incapable of 
disturbing the general tranquillity. Here, on 
the contrary, the African part of our population 
bears so large a proportion to the residue of Eu- 
ropean origin, as to create the most lively appre- 

14 



158 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

hension, especially in some quarters of the union. 
Any project, therefore, by which, in a material 
degree, the dangerous element in the general 
mass, can be diminished or rendered stationary, 
deserves deliberate consideration. 

The colonization society has never imagined 
it to be practicable, or within the reach of any 
means which the several governments of the 
union could bring to bear on the subject, to trans- 
port the whole of the African race within the 
limits of the United States. Nor is that neces- 
sary to accomplish the desirable objects of do- 
mestic tranquillity, and render us one homogene- 
ous people. The population of the United 
States has been supposed to duplicate in periods 
of twenty-five years. That may have been the 
case heretofore, but the terms of duplication 
will be more and more protracted as we advance 
in national age ; and 1 do not believe that it will 
be found, in any period to come, that our num- 
bers will be doubled in a less term than one of 
about thirty-three and a third years. I have not 
time to enter now into details in support of this 
opinion. They would consist of those checks 
which experience has shown to obstruct the pro- 
gress of population, arising out of its actual aug- 
mentation and density, the settlement of waste 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 159 

lands, &c. Assuming the period of thirty-three 
and a third, or any other number of years, to be 
that in which our population will hereafter be 
doubled, if, during that whole term, the capital 
of the African stock could be kept down, or sta- 
tionary, whilst that of European origin should be 
left to an unobstructed increase, the result, at 
the end of the term, would be most propitious. 
Let us suppose, for example, that the whole 
population at present of the United States, is 
twelve millions, of which ten may be estimated 
of the Anglo-Saxon, and two of the African race. 
If there could be annually transported from the 
United States an amount of the African portion 
equal to the annual increase of the whole of that 
caste, whilst the European race should be left 
to multiply, we should find at the termination of 
the period of duplication, whatever it may be, 
that the relative proportions would be as twenty 
to two. And if the process were continued, du- 
ring a second term of duplication, the propor- 
tion would be as forty to two — one which would 
eradicate every cause of alarm or solicitude from 
the breasts of the most timid. But the trans- 
portation of Africans, by creating, to the extent 
to which it might be carried, a vacuum in society, 
would tend to accelerate the duplication of tho 



150 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

European race, who, by all the laws of popula- 
tion, would fill up the void space. 

This society is well aware, I repeat, that they 
cannot touch the subject of slavery. But it is 
no objection to their scheme, limited as it is ex- 
clusively to those free people of color who are 
willing to migrate, that it admits of indefinite 
extension and application, by those w T ho alone, 
having the competent authority, may choose to 
adopt and apply it. Our object has been to 
point out the way, to show that colonization is 
practicable, and to leave it to those states or in- 
dividuals, who may be pleased to engage in the 
object, to prosecute it. We have demonstrated 
that a colony may be planted in Africa, by the 
fact that an American colony there exists. The 
problem which has so long and so deeply inter- 
ested the thoughts of good and patriotic men, is 
solved — a country and a home have been found, 
to which the African race may be sent, to the 
promotion of their happiness and our own. 

But, Mr. Vice-President, I shall not rest con- 
tented with the fact of the establishment of the 
colony, conclusive as it ought to be deemed of 
the practicability of our purpose. I shall pro- 
ceed to show, by reference to indisputable sta- 
tistical details and calculations, that it is within 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. iqi 

the compass of reasonable human means. I am 
sensible of the tediousness of all arithmetical 
data, but I will endeavor to simplify them as 
much as possible. — It will be borne in mind 
that the aim of the society is to establish in Af- 
rica a colony of the free African population of 
the United States, to an extent which shall be 
beneficial both to Africa and America. The 
whole free colored population of the United 
States amounted, in 1790, to fifty-nine thousand 
four hundred and eighty-one ; in 1800, to one 
hundred and ten thousand and seventy-two ; in 
1810, to one hundred and eighty-six thousand 
four hundred and forty-six ; and in 1820, to two 
hundred and thirty-three thousand five hundred 
and thirty. The ratio of annual increase during 
the first term often years, was about eight and 
a half per cent per annum ; during the second, 
about seven per cent per annum ; and during 
the third, a little more than two and a half. 
The very great difference in the rate of annual 
increase, during those several terms, may pro- 
bably be accounted for by the effect of the num- 
ber of voluntary emancipations operating with 
more influence upon the total smaller amount of 
free coloured persons at the first of those pe- 
riods, and by the facts of the insurrection in St. 
14* 



162 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

Domingo, and the acquisition of Louisiana, both 
of which, occurring during the first and second 
terms, added considerably to the number of our 
free coloured population. 

AMERICAN INDUSTRY, 

In foreseeing, as many years ago I thought I 
did, the success which would crown the exer- 
tions of the people of the L T nited States, by the 
application of a portion of their industry to the 
arts, I was gifted with no spirit of prophesy. I 
only studied the character and the resources of 
our countrymen and our country. Of their en- 
terprise, ingenuity, and perseverance, no doubt 
can be entertained. We produced all the essen- 
tial raw materials, and we had the command of 
boundless power, natural and artificial. With 
these elements, physical and moral, why should 
we fail 1 Nor has the strength of my conviction 
abated by the discouraging predictions of the 
timid and the interested. These have not been 
wanting, in every stage of our national progress; 
and the failure of our arms, in both our wars, as 
well as of our arts, had been confidently fore- 
told. Our march has, nevertheless, been onward, 
successful, and triumphant, and glorious. 

If the friends of American industry had pre- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 163 

sented a system for its protection, based upon 
doubtful theory and visionary speculation — if 
they had offered to the consideration of their 
countrymen a scheme which experience in other 
nations had demonstrated to be impracticable 
and injurious, all the opposition which they en- 
countered would have been patriotic and justi- 
fiable. But they came forward with no doubt- 
ful project. They were sustained by the expe- 
rience of all countries, and especially of that from 
which we sprung. And now the very great suc- 
cess which has attended those branches of our 
manufactures which were adequately protected, 
enables us to add that of our own as a testimony 
to the wisdom of self-defence and protection. 

Notwithstanding the new markets which have 
been created, the wants which have been sup- 
plied, and the animation which has been given to 
labor, the foes of the American system continue 
their opposition with a perseverance worthy of a 
better cause. Availing themselves with the irri- 
tations and divisions incident to a late contested 
election, and enlisting under the banners of a 
distinguished name, they have taken fresh cou- 
rage, and assail the further progress of our manu- 
factures with renovated vigor. Prior to that 
event, they had contented themselves with con- 



164 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

troverting the policy of encouragement ; and no 
statesman in congress had been seen bold enough 
seriously to question the right of congress to af- 
ford it. But now the legislature of a distinguish- 
ed state, after a long deliberation and mature 
consideration, has solemnly resolved that con- 
gress does not possess the poircr to counteract 
foreign legislation by laws of self-protection. 
From the very commencement of the govern- 
ment, and throughout all the stages of its exist- 
ence, in peace and in war, the power has been 
asserted and exercised. It is delegated by more 
than one clause in the constitution. Under the 
authority to regulate commerce with foreign na- 
tions, we have seen the power exercised to sus- 
pend, for long and indefinite periods, commer- 
cial intercourse with all nations, and especially 
with Great Britain and France. The power to 
regulate our foreign commerce is plenary, clear 
and explicit ; and, if the clause which conveys 
it is not adapted to the purpose, human language 
is incompetent to supply the appropriate terms. 
Under another clause, also full and explicit, the 
power is granted to lay imposts, without limita- 
tion as to amount, and has been exercised to an 
extent far beyond the wishes of the friends of 
the American system to apply it. 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. \q$ 

I hope the vigor of this new attack upon the 
system will be met by corresponding vigor in its 
defence. Let us treat our antagonists with the 
greatest respect, and be tender even of their 
prejudices. But, faithful to measures, let U3 
firmly meet concert and co-operation on the other 
side, by concert and co-operation on ours. Let 
us oppose mind to mind, and exertion to exer- 
tion ; and if we must fail — if the bright prospects 
which lie before us are to be dissipated and de- 
stroyed, let there be no occasion for reproaching 
ourselves. If our opponents can make them- 
selves the majority, however much we may de- 
plore the issue of the struggle, we will bow with 
submission and deference to the will of the ma- 
jority. If, as I hope, our system is preserved, 
and improved, I will now hazard the prediction, 
that in less than twenty years the value of our 
exported manufactures will exceed in amount 
that of all the exports of raw produce from our 
country. 

MILITARY HEROES. 

We differed only about men. You wished to 
commit the national ship to a gallant commander. 
I thought that was not his element, and I pre- 
ferred another, who possessed, I believed, more 



166 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

skill and experience, and under whose command 
I thought the ship, and the crew, and the cargo, 
would be safer and happier. 

You were actuated by one of the noblest of 
virtues. I too acknowledge its sway. But 
whilst military merit is no disqualification, but, 
when accompanied by other requisite attain- 
ments, may be a reason for civil promotion, 
standing, as it appeared to me, alone, I did not 
think we could prudently entrust the chief ma- 
gistracy of this great country to the distinguish- 
ed object of your choice. I felt with you the 
obligations of national gratitude. But I thought 
they should be fulfilled in other forms. Let the 
public gratitude manifest itself in just and ade- 
quate rewards, drawn from the public treasure. 
Let inspired poets sing the praises of our mili- 
tary and naval commanders. Let the chisel and 
the pencil preserve their faithful images for the 
gratification of the present and future genera- 
tions. Let the impartial historian faithfully re- 
cord their deeds of glory and renown, for the 
admiration and the imitation of posterity. I say 
too, in the language of a departed sage, " honor 
to those who fill the measure of their country's 
glory." But it should be appropriate, conside- 
rate honor — such as becomes its object, and such 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. Iffi 

as freemen, jealous, cautious, and enlightened 
freemen, ought to bestow. If my suffrage is 
asked for the highest civil office of my country, 
the candidate, however illustrious and successful ' 
he may be, must present some other title than 
laurels, however gloriously gathered oh the 
blood-stained field. 

ADDRESS AT LEXINGTON. 

I beg permission to offer my hearty thanks, 
and to make my respectful acknowledgments, 
for the affectionate reception which has been 
given me during my present visit to my old con- 
gressional district, and for this hospitable and 
honorable testimony of your esteem and confi- 
dence. And I thank you especially for the 
friendly sentiments and feelings expressed in 
the toast which you have just done me the honor 
to drink. I always had the happiness of know- 
ing that I enjoyed, in a high degree, the attach- 
ment of that portion of my fellow citizens whom 
I formerly represented ; but I should never have 
been sensible of the strength and ardor of their 
affection, except for the extraordinary character 
of the times. For near two years and a half I 
have been assailed with a rancor and bitterness 
which have few examples. I have found my- 



108 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

self the particular object of concerted and con- 
centrated abuse ; and others, thrusting them- 
selves between you and me, have dared to ar- 
raign me for treachery to your interests. But 
my former constituents, unaffected by the ca- 
lumnies which have been so perseveringly cir- 
culated to my prejudice, have stood by me with 
a generous constancy and a noble magnanimity. 
The measure of their regard and confidence has 
risen with, and even surpassed, that of the ma- 
levolence, great as it is, of my personaljand po- 
litical foes. 1 thank you, gentlemen, who are "a 
large portion of my late constituents. I thank 
you, and every one of them, with all my heart, 
for the manly support which I have uniformly 
received. It has cheered and consoled me, amidst 
all my severe trials ; and may I not add, that it 
is honorable to the generous hearts and enlight- 
ened heads who have resolved to protect the 
character of an old friend and a faithful servant 1 
The numerous manifestations of your confi- 
deuce and attachment will be among the latest 
and most treasured recollections of my life # 
They impose on me obligations which can never 
be weakened or cancelled. One of these obli- 
gations is, that I should embrace every fair op. 
portunity to vindicate that character which you 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. i 69 

have so generously sustained, and to evince to 
you and to the world, that you have not yielded 
to the impulses of a blind and enthusiastic sen- 
timent. I feel that I am, on all fit occasions, 
especially bound to vindicate myself to my for- 
mer constituents. It was as their representative, 
it was in the fulfilment of a high trust which 
they confided to me, that I have been accused 
of violating the most sacred of duties, of treating 
their wishes with contempt, and their interests 
with treachery. Nor is this obligation, in my 
conception of its import, at all weakened by the 
dissolution of the relations which heretofore ex- 
isted between us. I would instantly resign the 
place I hold in the councils of the nation, and 
directly appeal to the suffrages of my late con- 
stituents, as a candidate for re-election, if I did 
not know that my foes are of that class whom 
one rising from tho dead cannot convince, w T hom 
nothing can silence, and who wage a war of ex- 
termination. On the issue of such an appeal, 
they would redouble their abuse of me and of 
you : for their hatred is common to us both. 

They have compelled me so often to be the 

theme of my addresses to the people, that I should 

have willingly abstained, on this festive occasion, 

from any allusion to this subject, but for a new 

- 15 



170 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

and imposing form which the calumny against 
me has recently assumed. I am again put on 
my defence, not of any new charge, nor by any 
new adversary ; but of the old charges clad in a 
new dress, and exhibited by an open and undis- 
guised enemy. The fictitious names have been 
stricken from the foot of the indictment, and 
that of a known and substantial prosecutor has 
been voluntarily offered. Undaunted by the 
formidable name of that prosecutor, I will avail 
myself, with your indulgence, of this fit oppor- 
tunity of free and unreserved intercourse with 
you, as a large number of my late constituents, 
to make some observations on the past and pre- 
sent state of the question. When evidence shall 
be produced, as I have now a clear right to de- 
mand, in support of the accusation, it will be 
the proper time for me to take such notice of it 
as its nature may require. 

In February, 1S25, it was my duty, as the re- 
presentative of this district, to vote for some 
one of the three candidates for the presidency, 
who were returned to the house of representa- 
tives. It has been established, and can be far- 
ther proved, that, before I left this state the 
preceding fall, I communicated to several gen- 
tlemen of the highest respectability, my fixed 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 171 

determination not to vote for General Jackson. 
The friends of Mr. Crawford asserted to the 
last, that the condition of his health was such as 
to enable him to administer the duties of the 
office. I thought otherwise after I reached 
Washington city, and visited him to satisfy my- 
self; and thought that physical impediment, if 
there were no other objections, ought to prevent 
his election. Although the delegations from 
four states voted for him, and his pretensions 
were zealously pressed to the very last moment, 
it has been of late asserted, and I believe by 
some of the very persons who then warmly es- 
poused his cause, that his incompetency was so 
palpable as clearly to limit the choice to two of 
the three returned candidates. In my view of 
my duty, there was no alternative but that which 
I embraced. That I had some objections to Mr. 
Adams, I am ready freely to admit ; but these 
did not weigh a feather in comparison with the 
greater and insurmountable objections, long and 
deliberately entertained against his competitor. 
I take this occasion, with great satisfaction, to 
state, that my objections to Mr. Adams arose 
chiefly from apprehensions which have not been 
realized. I have found him at the head of the go 
vernment, able, enlightened, patient of investi- 



172 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

gation, and ever ready to receive with respect, 
and when approved by his judgment, to act up- 
on the councils of his official advisers. I add, 
with unmixed pleasure, that, from the commence- 
ment of the government, with the exception of 
Mr. Jefferson's administration, no chief magis- 
trate has found the members of his cabinet so 
united on all public measures, a \d so cordial 
and friendly in all their intercourse, private and 
official, as these are of the present president. 

Had I voted for General Jackson, in oppo- 
sition to the well-known opinions which I en- 
tertained of him, one tenth part of the ingenuity 
and zeal which have been employed to excite 
prejudices against me would have held me up 
to universal contempt : and what would have 
been worse, I should hzxefelt that I really de- 
served it. 

Before the election, a': attempt was made by 
an abusive letter, published in the Columbian 
Observer, at Philadelphia, a paper which, as has 
since transpired, was sustained by Mr. Senator 
Eaton, the colleague, the friend, and the biogra- 
pher of General Jackson, to assail my motives, 
and to deter me in the exercise of my duty. 
This letter being avowed by Mr. George Kre- 
mer, I instantly demanded from the house of re- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 173 

preservatives an investigation. A committee 
was accordingly, on the 5th day of February, 
1825, appointed in the rare mode of balloting by 
the house, instead of by the selection of the 
speaker. It was composed of some of the lead- 
ing members of that body, not one of whom was 
my political friend in the preceding presiden- 
tial canvass. Although Mr. Kremer, in address- 
ing the house, had declared his willingness to 
bring forward his proofs, and his readiness to 
abide the issue of the inquiry, his fears, or other 
counsels than his own, prevailed upon him to 
take refuge in a miserable subterfuge. Of all 
possible periods, that was the most fitting to 
substantiate the charge, if it was true. Every 
circumstance was then fresh ; the witnessess all 
living and present; the election not yet com- 
plete ; and therefore the imputed corrupt bar- 
gain not fulfilled. All these powerful consider- 
ations had no weight with the conspirators and 
their accessories, and they meanly shrunk from 
even an attempt to prove their charge, for the 
best of all possible reasons — because, being 
false and fabricated, they could adduce no proof 
which was not false and fabricated. 

During two years and a half, which have now 
intervened, a portion of the press devoted to the 
15* 



174 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

cause of General Jackson, has been teeming 
with tie vilest calumnies against me ; and the 
charge, under every chameleon form, has been a 
thousand times repeated. Up to this time, I 
have in vain invited investigation, and demand- 
ed evidence. None, not a particle, has been 
adduced. 

The extraordinary ground has been taken, 
that the accusers were not bound to establish by 
proof the guilt of their designated victim. In a 
civilized, Christian, and free community, the 
monstrous principle has been assumed, that ac- 
cusation and conviction are synonymous ; and 
that the persons who deliberately bring forward 
an atrocious charge, are exempted from all obli- 
gations to substantiate it ! And the pretext is, 
that the crime being of a political nature, is 
shrouded in darkness, and incapable of being 
substantiated. But is there any real difference, 
in this respect, between political and other of- 
fences ] Do not all perpetrators of crime en- 
deavor to conceal their guilt and to elude de- 
tection % If the accuser of a political offence is 
absolved from the duty of supporting his accu- 
sation, every other accuser of offence stands 
equally absolved. Such a principle, practically 
carried into society, would subvert all harmony, 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 175 

peace, and tranquillity. None — no age, nor sex, 
nor profession, nor calling, would be safe against 
its baleful and overwhelming influence. It 
would amount to an universal license to univer- 
sal calumnv ! 

m 

No one has ever contended, that the proof 
should be exclusively that of eye-witnesses, tes- 
tifying from their sense positively and directly 
to the fact. Political, like all other offences, may 
be established by circumstantial as well as posi- 
tive evidence. But I do contend, that some 
evidence, be it what it may, ought to be exhibit- 
ed. If there be none, how do the accusers 
know that an offence has been perpetrated 1 If 
they do know it, let us have the fact on which 
their conviction is based. I will not even assert 
that, in public affairs, a citizen has not a right, 
freely to express his opinions of public men, and 
to speculate upon the motives of their conduct. 
But if he chooses to promulgate opinions, let 
them be given as opinions. The public will 
correctly judge of their value and their grounds. 
No one has a right to put forth a positive asser- 
tion, that a political offence has been committed, 
unless he stands prepared to sustain, by satisfac- 
tory proof of some kind, its actual existence. 
If he who exhibits a charge of political crime 



176 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

is, from its very nature, disabled to establish it, 
how much more difficult is the condition of the 
accused 1 How can he exhibit negative proof 
of his innocence, if no affirmative proof of his 
guilt is, or can be adduced ^ 

PUBLIC FEELING. 

In passing through my native state, towards 
which I have ever borne, and shall continue in 
all vicissitudes to cherish, the greatest respect 
and affection, I expected to be treated with its 
accustomed courtesy and private hospitality. 
But I did not anticipate that I should be the ob- 
ject of such public, distinguished, and cordial 
manifestations of regard. In offering you the 
poor and inadequate return of my warm and 
respectful thanks, I pray you to believe that I 
shall treasure up these testimonies among the 
most gratifying reminiscences of my life. The 
public service which I have rendered my coun- 
try, your too favorable opinion of which has 
prompted you to exhibit these demonstrations 
of your esteem, has fallen far below the measure 
of usefulness which I should have been happy 
to have filled. I claim for it only, the humble 
merit of pure and patriotic intention. Such as 
it has been, I have not always been fortunate 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 177 

enough to give satisfaction to every section, and 
to all the great interests of our country. When 
an attempt was made to impose upon a new 
state about to be admitted into the Union, re- 
strictions, incompatible, as I thought, with her 
co-equal, sovereign power, I was charged in the 
north with being too partial to the south, and 
as being friendly to that unfortunate condition 
of slaverv, of the evils of which none are more 
sensible than I am. At another period, when I 
believed that the industry of this country re- 
quired some protection against the selfish and 
contracted legislation of foreign powers, and to 
constitute it a certain and safe source of supply, 
in all exigencies, the charge against me was 
transposed, and I was converted into a foe of 
southern, and an infatuated friend of northern 
and western interests. There were not wanting 
persons, in every section of the Union, in another 
stage of our history, to accuse me with rashly 
contributing to the support of a war, the only 
alternative left to our honor by the persevering 
injustice of a foreign nation. These contradict- 
ory charges and perverted views, gave me no 
concern, because I was confident that time and 
truth would prevail over all misconceptions ; 
and because they did not impeach my public in- 



178 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

tegrity. But I confess I was not prepared to ex- 
pect the aspersions which I have experienced on 
account of a more recent discharge of public 
duty. My situation on the occasion to which I 
refer was most peculiar and extraordinary ; un- 
like that of any other American citizen. One 
of the three candidates for the presidency pre- 
sented to the choice of the house of represent- 
atives was out of the question for notorious rea- 
sons, now admitted by all. Limited as the com- 
petition was to the other two, I had to choose 
between the statesman long experienced at 
home and abroad in numerous civil situations, 
and a soldier — brave, gallant, and successful — 
but a mere soldier — who, although he also had 
filled several civil offices, had quickly resigned 
them all, frankly acknowledging, in some in- 
stances, his incompetency to discharge their du- 
ties. It has been said that I had some differ- 
ence with the present chief magistrate at Ghent. 
It is true that we did not agree on one of the 
many important questions which arose during 
the negotiations at that city ; but the difference 
equally applied to our present minister at Lon- 
don, and to the lamented Bayard, between whom 
and myself, although we belonged to opposite 
political parties, there existed a warm friend- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 179 

ship to the hour of his death. It was not of a 
nature to prevent our co-operation in the public 
service, as is demonstrated by the convention at 
London, subsequently negotiated by Messrs. 
Adams, Gallatin, and myself. It was a differ- 
ence of opinion on a point of expediency, and 
did not relate to any constitutional or fundamen- 
tal principle. But with respect to the conduct 
of the distinguished citizen of Tennessee, I had 
solemnly expressed, under the highest obliga- 
tions, opinions which, whether right or wron«-, 
were sincerely and honestly entertained, and are 
still held. These opinions related to a military 
exercise ofpower believed to be arbitrary and un- 
constitutional. I should have justly subjected 
myself to the grossest inconsistency, if I had 
given him my suffrage. I thought, if he were 
elected, the sword and the constitution, bad 
companions, would be brought too near together. 
I could not have foreseen, that fully justified as 
1 have been by those very constituents, in virtue 
of whose authority I exerted the right of free 
suffrage, I should nevertheless be charged with a 
breach of duty and corruption, by strangers to 
them, standing in no other relation to them, but 
that of being citizens of other states, members 



180 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

of the confederacy. It is in vain that these revi- 
lers have been called upon for their proofs ; have 
been defied, and are again invited, to enter 
upon any mode of fair investigation and trial. 
Shrinking from every impartial examination, 
they persevere with increasing zeal in the pro- 
pagation of calumny, under the hope of supply- 
ing by the frequency and boldness of assevera- 
tion, the want of truth, and the deficiency of evi- 
dence — until we have seen the spectacle exhi- 
bited, of converting the hall of the first legisla- 
tive assembly upon earth, on the occasion of 
discussions which, above all others, should have 
been characterized by dignity, calmness, and 
temperance, into a theatre for spreading suspi- 
cious and groundless imputations, against an 
absent and innocent individual. Driven from 
every other hold, they have seized on the only 
plank left within their grasp, that of my accept- 
ance of the office of secretary of state, which has 
been asserted to be the consummation of a pre- 
vious corrupt arrangement. What can I oppose 
to such an assertion, but positive, peremptory, and 
unqualified denial, and a repetition of the demand 
for proof and trial ] The office to which I have 
been appointed, is that of the country ; created 
by it, and administered for its benefit. In deci- 
ding whether I should accept it or not, I did not 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 1SI 

take counsel from those, who foreseeing the pro- 
bability of my designation for it, sought to deter 
me from its acceptance by fabricating anticipa- 
ted charges, which would have been preferred 
with the same zeal and alacrity, however I might 
have decided. I took counsel from my friends, 
from my duty; from my conscious innocence of 
unworthy and false imputations. I was not left 
at liberty by either my enemies, or friends, to de- 
cline the office. I would willingly have declin- 
ed if from an unaffected distrust of my ability 
to perform its high duties, if I could hav.e honor- 
ably declined it. I hope the uniform tenor of 
my whole public life, will protect me against 
the supposition of any unreasonable avidity for 
public employment. During the administration 
of that illustrious man, to whose civil services, 
more than to those of any other American patriot, 
living or dead, this country is indebted for the 
blessing of its present constitution, now more 
than ten years ago, the mission to Russia, and a 
place in his cabinet, were successively offered 
me. A place in his cabinet at that period of my 
life, was more than equivalent to any place un- 
der any administration, at my present advanced 
ao-e. His immediate successor tendered me the 
same place in his cabinet, which he anxiously 

16 



182 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

urged me to accept, and the mission to England. 
Gentlemen, I hope you will believe, that far 
from being impelled by any vain or boastful 
spirit to mention these things, I do it with hu- 
miliation and mortification. 

If I had refused the department of state, the 
same individuals who now, in the absence of all 
proof, against all probability, and in utter disre- 
gard of all truth, proclaim the existence of a cor- 
rupt, previous arrangement, would have propa- 
gated the same charge, with the same affected 
confidence, that they now unblushingly assume, 
and it would have been said, with at least as 
much plausibility, that I had contributed to the 
election of a chief magistrate, of whom I thought 
so unfavorable, that I would not accept that place 
in his cabinet which is generally regarded as the 
first. I thought it my duty, unavved by their 
denunciations, to proceed in the office assigned 
me by the president and senate, to render to the 
country the best service of which my poor abilities 
are capable. If this administration should show 
itself unfriendly to American liberty, and to free 
liberal institutions ; if it should be conducted 
upon a system adverse to those principles of 
public policy, which I have ever endeavored to 
sustain, and I should be found still clinging to 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 183 

office, then nothing could be said by those who 
are inimical to me which would be undeserved. 

THE DEFENCE OF GOVERNMENT. 

This is not a fit occasion, nor perhaps am I a 
fit person, to enter upon a vindication of its mea- 
sures. But I hope I shall be excused for asking 
what measure of domestic policy has been pro- 
posed or recommended by the present execu- 
tive, which has not its prototype in the previous 
acts or recommendations of administrations at 
the head of which was a citizen of Virginia ] 
Can the liberal and high minded people of this 
state condemn measures emanating from a citi- 
zen of Massachusetts, which when proposed by 
a Virginian, commanded their express assent or 
silent acquiescence, or to which, if in any in- 
stance they made opposition, it was respectful, 
limited, and qualified ] The present adminis- 
tration desires only to be judged by its measures, 
and invites the strictest scrutiny and the most 
watchful vigilance on the part of the public. 
With respect to the Panama mission, it is true 
that it was not recommended by any prece- 
ding administration, because the circumstances 
of the world were not then such as to present it 
as a subject for decision. But during that of 



184 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

Mr. Monroe, it has been seen that it was a 
matter of consideration, and there is every rea- 
son to believe if he were now at the head of 
affairs, his determination would correspond with 
that of his successor. Let me suppose that it 
was the resolution of this country, under no 
circumstances, to contract with foreign powers 
intimate public engagements, and to remain 
altogether unbound by any treaties of alliance, 
what should have been the course taken with 
the very respectful invitation which was given 
to the United States to be represented at Pana- 
ma ? Haughtily folding your arms, would you 
have given it a cold and abrupt refusal ] Or 
would you not rather accept it, send ministers, 
and in a friendly and respectful manner, endea- 
vor to satisfy those who are looking to us for 
counsel and example, and imitating our free 
institutions, that there is no necessity for such 
an alliance ; that the dangers which alone could, 
in the opinion of any one, have justified it, have 
vanished, and that it is not good for them or for 
us. "What may be the nature of the instructions 
with which our ministers may be charged, it is 
not proper that I should state ; but all candid 
and reflecting men must admit, that we have 
great interests in connexion with the southern 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 185 

republics, independent of any compacts of alli- 
ance. Those republics, now containing a popu- 
lation of more than twenty millions, duplicating 
their numbers probably in periods still shortsr 
than we do, comprising within their limits the 
most abundant sources of the precious metals, 
offer to our commerce, to our manufactures, to our 
navigation, so many advantages, that none can 
doubt the expediency of cultivating the most 
friendly relations with them. If treaties of com- 
merce and friendship, and liberal stipulations in 
regard to neutral and belligerent rights, could 
be negotiated with each of them at its separate 
seat of government, there is no doubt that much 
greater facilities for the conclusion of such trea- 
ties present themselves at a point, where all 
being represented, the way may be smoothed, 
and all obstacles removed, by a disclosure of the 
views and wishes of all, and by mutual and 
friendly explanations. There was one consi- 
deration which had much weight with the execu- 
tive in the decision to accept the mission, and 
that was the interest which this country has, and 
especially the southern states, in the fate and 
fortunes of the island of Cuba. No subject of 
our foreign relations has created with the ex- 
ecutive government, more anxious concern than 
16* 



1S6 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

that of the condition of that island, and the pos- 
sibility of prejudice to the southern states, from 
the convulsions to which it might be exposed. 
It was believed, and is yet believed, that the 
dangers which, in certain contingencies, might 
threaten our quiet and safety, may be more suc- 
cessfully averted at a place, at which all the 
American powers should be represented, than 
any where else. And I have no hesitation in 
expressing the firm conviction, that if there be 
one section of this union more than all others 
interested in the Panama mission, and the bene- 
fits which may flow from it, that section is the 
south. It was therefore, with great and un- 
affected surprise, that I witnessed the obliquity 
of those political views, which led some gentle- 
men from that quarter, to regard the measure, 
as it might operate on the southern states, in an 
unfavorable light. Whatever may be the result 
of the mission, its moral effect in Europe will 
be considerable : and it cannot fail to make the 
most friendly impression upon our southern 
neighbors. It is one of which it is difficult, in 
sober imagination, to conceive any possible mis- 
chievous consequences, and which the execu- 
tive could not have declined, in my opinion, 
without culpable neglect of the interests of this 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. ]S7 

country, and without giving some dissatisfaction 
to nations, whose friendship we are called upon 
by every dictate of policy to conciliate. 

There are persons who would impress on the 
southern states, the belief that they have just 
cause of apprehending danger, to a certain por- 
tion of their property, from the present adminis- 
tration. It is not difficult to comprehend the 
object, and the motive of these idle alarms. 
What measure of the present administration 
gives any just occasion, for the smallest appre- 
hension to the tenure by which that species of 
property is held 1 However much the presi- 
dent and the members of his administration may 
deprecate the existence of slavery among us as 
the greatest evil with which we are afflicted, 
there is not one of them that does not believe, 
that the constitution of the general government 
confers no authority to interpose between the 
master and his slave, none to apply an adequate 
remedy, if indeed there be any remedy within 
the scope of human power. Suppose the object 
of these alarms were accomplished, and the slave 
holding states were united in the sentiment, 
that the policy of this government in all time to 
come, should be regulated on the basis of the 
fact of slavery, would not union on one side, 



1SS BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

lead to union on the other ; and would not such 
a fatril division of the people and states of this 
confederacy, produce perpetual, mutual irrita- 
tion and exasperation, and ultimately disunion 
itself? The slavebolding states cannot forget 
that they are now in a minority, which is in a 
constant relative diminution, and should cer- 
tainly not be the first to put forth a principle of 
public action, by which they would be the great- 
est losers. I am but too sensible of the un- 
reasonable trespass on your time which I have 
committed, and of the egotism of which my dis- 
course has partaken. I must depend for my 
apology upon the character of the times, and 
the venom of the attacks which have been made 
upon my character and conduct, and upon the 
generous sympathy of the gentlemen here as- 
sembled. 

OPPOSITION TO BANKS. 

I will observe, in the first place, that I am not 
in favor with such a bank as was recommended 
in the message of the President of the United 
States, at the commencement of the last session 
of congress ; that, with the committee of the 
two houses, I concur in thin kins: it would be an 
institution of a dangerous and alarming charac- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. _. 189 




ter ; and that, fraught as it would be wit! 
most corrupting tendencies, it might be made 
powerfully instrumental in overturning our li- 
berties.' As to the existing bank, I think it has 
been generally administered, particularly of 
late years, with great ability and integrity ; that it 
has fulfilled all the reasonable expectations of 
those who constituted it ; and, with the same 
committees, I think it has made an approxima- 
tion towards the equalization of the currency, as 
great as is practicable. * "Whether the charter 
ought to be renewed or not, near six years hence, 
in my judgment, is a question of expedien- 
cy to be decided by the then existing state of 
the country. It will be necessary at that time 
to look carefully at the condition both of the 
bank and of the union. To ascertain, if the 
public debt shall, in the mean time, be paid off, 
what effect that will produce % what will be our 
then financial condition 1 what that of local banks, 
the state of our commerce, foreign and domes- 
tic, as well as the concerns of our currency ge- 
nerally ? I am, therefore, not now prepared to 
say whether the charter ought or ought not to 
be renewed on the expiration of its present 
term. The bank may become insolvent, and 
may hereafter forfeit all pretensions to a renew- 




BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

'The question is premature. I may not be 
alive to form any opinion upon it. It belongs 
to posterity, and if they would have the good- 
ness to decide for us some of the perplexing and 
practical questions of the present day, we might 
be disposed to decide that remote question for 
them. As it is, it ought indefinitely to be post- 
poned. 

THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 

With respect to the American system, which 
demands your undivided approbation, and in re- 
gard to which you are pleased to estimate much 
highly my service, its great object is to se- 
ItVe' the independence of our country, to aug- 
ment its wealth, and to diffuse the comforts of 
civilization throughout society. That object, it 
has been supposed, can be best accomplished by 
introducing, encouraging, and protecting the arts 
among us. It may be called a system of real 
reciprocity, under the operation of which one 
citizen or one part of the country can exchange 
one description of the produce of labor, with 
another citizen of another part of the country 
for a different description of the produce of la- 
bor. It is a system which develops, improves, 
and perfects the capabilities of our common 




BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 






country, and enables us to avail ourselres 
the resources with which Providence has blest 
us. To the laboring classes it is invaluable, 
since it increases and multiplies the demands 
for their industry, and gives them an option of 
employments. It adds power and strength to 
our union by new ties of interest, blending and 
connecting together all its parts, and creating an 
interest with each in the prosperity o^ the whole. 
It secures to our own country, whose skill and 
enterprise, properly fostered and sustained, can- 
not be surpassed, those vast profits which are 
made in other countries, by the operation of con- 
verting the raw material into manufactured ar^^ 
tides. It naturalizes and creates within the^bji™ 
som of our country all the arts, and mixing the 
farmer, manufacturer, mechanic, artist, and those 
engaged in other vocations, together, admits of 
those mutual exchanges, so conducive to the 
prosperity of all and every one, free from the 
perils of the sea and war. All this it effects, 
whilst it nourishes and leaves a fair scope to fo- 
reign trade. Suppose we were a nation that 
clad ourselves, and made all the implements ne- 
cessary to civilization, but did not produce our 
own bread, which we brought from foreign coun- 
tries, although our own was capable of produ- 



"tTCETit, u 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 




it, under the influence of suitable laws of 
protection, ought not such laws to be enacted % 
The case supposed is not essentially different 
from the real state of things which led to the 

O 

adoption of the American system. 

That system has had a wonderful success. It 
has more than realized all the hopes of its found- 
ers. It has completely falsified all the predic- 
tions of its opponents. It has increased the 
wealth, and power, and population of the nation. 
It has diminished the price of articles of con- 
sumption, and has placed them within the reach 
of a far greater number of our people than could, 
have found means to command them, if they had 
een manufactured abroad instead of at home. 
But it is useless to dwell on the argument in 
support of this beneficent system before this au- 
dience. It will be of more consequence here to 
examine some of the objections which are still 
urged against it, and the means which are pro- 
posed to subvert it. These objections are now 
principally confined to its operation upon the 
great staple of cotton wool, and they are urged 
with most vehemence in a particular state. If 
the objections are well founded, the system 
should be modified, as far as it can consistently 
with interest, in other parts of the union. If 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 193 

they are not well founded, it is to be hoped they 
will be finally abandoned. 

In approaching the subject, I have thought it 
of importance to inquire what was the profit 
made upon capital employed in the culture of 
cotton, at its present reduced price. The result 
has been information, that it netts from seven to 
eighteen per cent, per annum, varying according 
to the advantage of situation, and the degree of 
skill, judgment, and industry, applied to the pro- 
duction of the article. But the lowest rate of 
profit, in the scale, is more than the greatest 
amount which is made on capital employed in 
the farming portions of the union. 

If the cotton planter have any just complaint 
against the expediency of the American system, 
it must be founded on the fact, that he either 
sells less of his staple, or sells at lower prices, or 
purchases for consumption at dearer rates or of 
worse qualities, in consequence of that system, 
than he would do, if it did not exist. If he would 
neither sell more of his staple, nor sell it at bet- 
ter prices, nor could purchase better or cheaper 
articles for consumption, provided the system 
did not exist, then he had no cause, on the score 
of its burthensome operation, to complain of the 

17 



194 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

system, but must look to other sources for the 
grievances which he supposes afflict him. 

As respects the sale of his staple, it would be 
indifferent to the planter whether one portion of 
it was sold in Europe and the other in America, 
provided the aggregate of both were equal to all 
that he could sell in one market, if he had but 
one, and provided he could command the same 
price in both cases. The double market would 
indeed be something better for him, because of 
its o-reater security in time of war as well as in 
peace, and because it would be attended with 
less perils and less charges. If there be an equal 
amount of the raw material manufactured, it 
must be immaterial to the cotton planter, in the 
sale of the article, whether there be two theatres 
of the manufacture, one in Europe and the other 
in America, or but one in Europe ; or if there 
be a difference, it will be in favor of the two 
places of manufacture, instead of one, for rea- 
sons already assigned, and others that will be 
hereafter stated. 

It could be of no advantage to the cotton 
planter, if all the cotton now manufactured both 
in Europe and America, was manufactured ex- 
clusively in Europe, and an amount of cotton 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 195 

fabrics should be brought back from Europe, 
equal to what is now brought from there and 
what is manufactured in the United States toge- 
ther. Whilst he would gain nothing, the United 
States would lose the profit and employment re- 
sulting from the manufacture of that portion 
which is now wrought up by the manufacturers 
of the United States. 

Unless, therefore, it can be shown that, by the 
reduction of import duties and the overthrow of 
the American system, and by limiting the manu- 
facture of cotton to Europe, a greater amount of 
the raw material would be consumed than is at 
present, it is difficult to see what interest, so far 
as respects the sale of that staple, the cotton 
planter has in the subversion of that system. If 
a reduction of duties would admit of larger in- 
vestments in British or European fabrics of cot- 
ton, and their subsequent importation into this 
country, this additional supply would take the 
place, if consumed, of an equal amount of Ame- 
rican manufactures, and consequently would not 
augment the general consumption of the raw 
material. Additional importation does not ne 
cessarily imply increased consumption, especi- 
ally when it is effected by a policy which would 
impair the ability to purchase and consume. 



196 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

Upon the supposition, just made, of a restric- 
tion to Europe of the manufacture of cotton, 
would more or less of the article be consumed 
than now is ] More could not be, unless in con- 
sequence of such a monopoly of the manufac- 
ture, Europe could sell more than she now does. 
But to what countries could she sell more % She 
gets the raw material now unburthened by any 
duties except such moderate ones as her policy, 
not likely to be changed, imposes. She is ena- 
bled thereby to sell as much of the manufactured 
article as she can find markets for in the states 
within her own limits or in foreign countries. 
The destruction of the American manufacture 
would not induce her to sell cheaper, but might 
enable her to sell dearer than she now does. 
The ability of those foreign countries, to pur- 
chase and consume, would not be increased by 
the annihilation of our manufactures, and the 
monopoly of European manufacture. The pro- 
bability is that those foreign countries, by the 
fact of that monopoly, and some consequent in- 
crease of price, would be worse and dearer sup- 
plied than they now are under the operation of 
a competition between America and Europe in 
their supply. 

At most, the United States, after the transfer 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 197 

from their territory to Europe of the entire 
manufacture of the article, could not consume of 
European fabrics from cotton a greater amount 
than they now derive from Europe and from 
manufactures within their own limits. 

NULLIFICATION. 

The doctrine of some of the South Carolina 
politicians is, that it is competent to that state 
to annul, within its limits, the authority of an 
act deliberately passed by the congress of the 
United States. They do not appear to have 
looked much, beyond the simple act of nullifica- 
tion, into the consequences which would ensue, 
and have not distinctly announced whether one 
of them might not necessarily be to light up a 
civil war. They seem, however, to suppose 
that the state might, after the act was performed, 
remain a member of the union. Now, if one 
state can, by an act of its separate power, absolve 
itself from the obligations of a law of congress, 
and continue a part of the union, it could hardly 
be expected that any other state would render 
obedience to the same law. Either every other 
state would follow the nullifying example, or 
congress would feel itself constrained, by a sense 
of equal duty to all parts of the union, to repeal 
17* 



198 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

altogether the nullified law. Thus, the doctrine 
of South Carolina, although it nominally as- 
sumes to act for one state only, in effect, would 
be legislating for the whole union. 

Congress embodies the collective will of the 
whole union, and that of South Carolina among 
its other members. The legislation of congress 
is, therefore, founded upon the basis of the re- 
presentation of all. In the legislature, or a con- 
vention of South Carolina, the will of the people 
of that state is alone collected. They alone are 
represented, and the people of no other state 
have any voice in their proceedings. To set up 
for that state a claim, by a separate exercise of 
its power, to legislate, in effect, for the whole 
union, is to assert a pretension at war with the 
fundamental principles of all representative and 
free governments. It would practically subject 
the unrepresented people of all other parts of 
the union to the arbitrary and despotic power of 
one state. It would substantially convert them 
into colonies, bound by the parental authority of 
that state. 

Nor can this enormous pretension derive any 
support from the consideration that the power to 
annul is different from the power to originate 
laws. Both powers are, in their nature, legisla- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 199 

live ; and the mischiefs which might accrue to 
the republic from the annulment of its whole- 
some laws, may be just as great as those which 
would flow from the origination of bad laws. 
There are three things to which, more than all 
others, mankind, in all ages, have shown them- 
selves to be attached, their religion, their laivs^ 
and their language. 

But it has been argued, in the most solemn 
manner, " that the acknowledgment of the ex- 
clusive right of the federal government to deter- 
mine the limits of its own powers, amounts to a 
recognition of its absolute supremacy over the 
states and the people, and involves the sacrifice 
not only of our dearest rights and interest, but 
the very existence of the southern states." 

In cases where there are two systems of go- 
vernment, operating at the same time and place 
over the same people, the one general and the 
other local or particular, one system or the other 
must possess the right to decide upon the extent 
of the powers, in cases of collision, which are 
claimed by the general government. No third 
party of sufficient impartiality, weight, and res- 
ponsibility, other than such a tribunal as a su- 
preme court, has yet been devised, or perhaps 
can be created. 



200 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

The doctrine of one side is, that the general 
government, though limited in its nature, must 
necessarily possess the power to ascertain what 
authority it has, and, by consequence, the extent 
of that authority. And that, if its legislative or 
executive functionaries, by act, transcend that 
authority, the question may be brought before the 
supreme court, and being affirmatively decided 
by that tribunal, their act must be obeyed, until 
repealed or altered by competent power. 

Against the tendency of this doctrine to ab- 
sorb all power, those who maintain it, think there 
are reasonable, and, they hope, sufficient securi- 
ties. In the first place, all are represented in 
every legislative or executive act, and of course, 
each state can exert its proper influence, to pre- 
vent the adoption of any that may be deemed 
prejudicial or unconstitutional. Then, there are 
sacred oaths, elections, public virtue and intelli- 
gence, the power of impeachment, a common 
subjection to both systems of those functionaries 
who act under either, the right of the states to 
interpose and amend the constitution, or to dis- 
solve the union ; and, finally, the right, in ex- 
treme cases, when all other remedies fail, to re- 
sist insupportable oppression. 

The necessity being felt, by the framers of the 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 201 

constitution, to declare which system should be 
supreme, and believing that the securities now 
enumerated, or some of them, were adequate, 
they have accordingly provided that the consti- 
tution of the United States, and the laws made 
in pursuance of it, and all treaties made under 
the authority of the United States, shall be the 
supreme law of the land ; and that the judicial 
power shall extend to all cases arising under the 
constitution, laws, or treaties, of the United 
States. 

The South Carolina doctrine, on the other 
side, is, that that state has the right to determine 
the limits of the powers granted to the general 
government ; and that, whenever any of its acts 
transcend those limits, in the opinion of the 
state of South Carolina, she is competent to 
annul them. If the power, with which the fede- 
ral government is invested by the constitution, 
to determine the limits of its authority, be liable 
to the possible danger of ultimate consolidation, 
and all the safeguards which have been men- 
tioned might prove inadequate, is not this power, 
claimed for South Carolina, fraught with infi- 
nitely more certain, immediate, and fatal danger ! 
It would reverse the rule of supremacy prescribed 
in the constitution. It would render the au- 



202 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

thority of a single state paramount to that of the 
whole union. For, undoubtedly, that govern- 
ment, to some extent, must be supreme, which 
can annul and set aside the acts of another. 

The securities which the people of other parts 
of the United States possess against the abuse 
of this tremendous power claimed for South 
Carolina, will be found, on comparison, to be 
greatly inferior to those which she has against 
the possible abuses of the general government. 
They have no voice in her councils ; they could 
not, by the exercise of the elective franchise, 
change her rulers ; they could not impeach her 
judges, they could not alter her constitution, nor 
abolish her government. 

Under the South Carolina doctrine, if estab- 
lished, the consequence would be a dissolution 
of the union, immediate, inevitable, irresistible. 
There would be twenty-four chances to one 
against its continued existence. The appre- 
hended dangers of the opposite doctrine, re- 
mote, contingent, and hardly possible, are greatly 
exaggerated ; and, against their realization, all 
the precautions have been provided, which 
human wisdom and patriotic foresight could 
conceive and devise. 

Those who are opposed to the supremacy of 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 203 

the constitution, laws, and treaties of the United 
States, are adverse to all union, whatever con- 
trary professions they may make. For it may 
be truly affirmed, that no confederacy of states 
can exist without a power, somewhere residing 
in the government of that confederacy, to deter- 
mine the extent of the authority granted to it by 
the confederating states. 

It is admitted that the South Carolina doctrine 
is liable to abuse ; but it is contended, that the 
patriotism of each state is an adequate security, 
and that the nullifying power would only be ex- 
erted "in an extraordinary case, where the 
powers reserved to the states, under the consti- 
tution, are usurped by the federal government." 
And is not the 'patriotism of all the states, as 
great a safeguad against the assumption of 
powers not conferred upon the general govern- 
ment, as the patriotism of one state is against 
the denial of powers which are clearly granted % 
But the nullifying power is only to be exercised 
in an extraordinary case. Who is to judge of 
this extraordinary case ] What security is 
there, especially in moments of great excite- 
ment, that a state may not pronounce the plain- 
est and most common exercise of federal power, 
an extraordinary case ? The expressions in the 



204 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

constitution, " general welfare," have been often 
justly criticised, and shown to convey, in them- 
selves, no power, although they may indicate 
how the delegated power should be exercised. 
But this doctrine of an extraordinary case, to 
be judged of and applied by one of the twenty- 
four sovereignties, is replete with infinitely more 
danger than the doctrine of the " general wel- 
fare," in the hands of all. 

We may form some idea of future abuses 
under the South Carolina doctrine, by the appli- 
cation which is now proposed to be made of it. 
The American system is said to furnish an ex- 
traordinary case justifying that state to nullify 
it. The power to regulate foreign commerce, 
by a tariff, so adjusted as to foster our domestic 
manufactures, has been exercised from the com- 
mencement of our present constitution down to 
the last session of congress. I have been a 
member of the house of representatives at three 
different periods, when the subject of the tariff 
was debated at great length, and on neither, ac- 
cording to my recollection, was the want of a 
constitutional power in congress, to enact it, 
dwelt on, as forming a serious and substantial 
objection to its passage. On the last occasion 
(I think it was) in which I participated in the 



BEAUTIES OP CLAY. 205 

debate, it was incidentally said to be against the 
spirit of the constitution. — Whilst the authority 
of the father of the constitution is invoked to 
sanction, by a perversion of his meaning, princi- 
ples of disunion and rebellion, it is rejected to 
sustain the controverted power, although his 
testimony in support of it has been clearly and 
explicitly rendered. This power, thus asserted, 
exercised, and maintained, in favor of which, 
leading politicians in South Carolina have them- 
selves voted, is alleged to furnish " an extra- 
ordinary case, where the powers reserved to the 
states, under the constitution, are usurped by 
the general government." If it be, there is 
scarcely a statute in our code which would not 
present a case equally extraordinary, justifying 
South Carolina or any other state to nullify it. 

The United States are not only threatened with 
the nullification of numerous acts, which they 
have deliberately passed, but with a withdrawal 
of one of the members from the confederacy. 
If the unhappy case should ever occur of a state 
being really desirous to separate itself from the 
union, it would present two questions. The 
first would be, whether it had a right to with- 
draw, without the common consent of the mem- 
bers ; and supposing, as I believe, no such right 
18 



206 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

to exist", whether it would be expedient to yield 
consent. Although there may be power to pre- 
vent a secession, it might be deemed politic to 
allow it. It might be considered expedient to 
permit the refractory state to take the portion 
of goods that falleth to her, to suffer her to 
gather her all together, and to go off with her 
living. But, if a state should be willing, and 
allowed thus to depart, and to renounce her 
future portion of the inheritance of this great, 
glorious, and prosperous republic, she would 
.speedily return, and in language of repentance, 
say to the other members of this union, breth- 
ren, " I have sinned against heaven and before 
thee." Whether they would kill the fatted 
calf, and y chiding any complaining member of 
the family, say, " this thy sister was dead, and 
is alive again — and was lost, and is found," I 
sincerely pray the historian may never have 
occasion to record. 

PUBLIC DISCONTENT. 

No, Mr. President, it is not destruction but 
preservation of the system at which we aim. If 
dangers now assail it, we have not created them. 
I have sustained it upon the strongest and clear- 
est convictions of its expediency. They are 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 207 

entirely unaltered. Had others, who avow at- 
tachment to it, supported it with equal zeal and 
straightforwardness, it would be now free from 
embarrassment ; but with them it has been a 
secondary interest. I utter no complaints — I 
make no reproaches. I wish only to defend 
myself now, as heretofore, against unjust as- 
saults. I have been represented as the father 
of this system, and I am charged with an un- 
natural abandonment of my own offspring. I 
have never arrogated to myself any such inti- 
mate relation to it. I have, indeed, cherished it 
with parental fondness, and my affection is un- 
diminished. But in what condition do I find 
this child 1 Tt is in the hands of the Philistines, 
who would strangle it. I fly to its rescue, to 
snatch it from their custody, and to place it on a 
bed of security and repose for nine years, where 
it may grow and strengthen, and become accep- 
table to the whole people. I behold a torch 
about being applied to a favorite edifice, and I 
would save it, if possible, before it is wrapt in 
flames, or at least preserve the precious furni- 
ture which it contains. I wish to see the tariff 
separated from the politics of the country, that 
business men may go to work in security, with 
some prospect of stability in our laws, and with- 



208 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

out every thing being staked on the issue of 
elections as it were on the hazards of the die. 

And the other leading obiect which has 
prompted the introduction of this measure, the 
tranquillizing of the country, is no less impor- 
tant. All wise human legislation must consult 
in some degree the passions, and prejudices, and 
feelings, as well as the interests of the people. 
It would be vain and foolish to proceed at all 
times, and. under all circumstances, upon the 
notion of absolute certainty in any system, or 
infallibility in any dogma, and to push these out 
without regard to any consequences. With us, 
who entertain the opinion that congress is con- 
stitutionally invested with power to protect do- 
mestic industry, it is a question of mere expedi- 
ency as to the form, the degree, and the time that 
the protection shall be afforded. In weighing 
all the considerations which should control and 
regulate the exercise of that power, we ought 
not to overlook what is due to those who honest- 
ly entertain opposite opinions to large masses of 
the community, and to deep, long cherished, and 
growing prejudices. Perceiving, ourselves, no 
constitutional impediment, we have less difficul- 
ty in accommodating ourselves to the sense of 
the people of the United States upon this inter* 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 209 

esting subject. I do believe that a majority of 
them is in favor of this policy ; but I am induced 
to believe this almost against evidence. Two 
states in New England, which had been in favor 
of the system, have recently come out against it. 
Other states of the north and the east have 
shown a remarkable indifference to its preser- 
vation. If, indeed, they have wished to pre- 
serve it, they have nevertheless placed the 
powers of government in hands which ordinary 
information must have assured them were ratlier 
a hazardous depository. With us in the west, 
although we are not without some direct, and 
considerable indirect, interest in the system, we 
have supported it more upon national than sec- 
tional grounds. 

Meantime, the opposition of a large and re- 
spectable section of the union, stimulated by 
political success, has increased, and is increasing. 
Discontents are multiplying and assuming new 
and dangerous aspects. They have been cher- 
ished by the course and hopes inspired during 
this administration, which, at the very moment 
that it threatens and recommends the use of the 
power of the whole union, proclaims aloud the 
injustice of the system whicli it would enforce. 
These discontents are not limited to those who 



210 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

maintain the extravagant theory of nullification ; 
they are not confined to one state ; they are co- 
extensive with the entire south, and extend even 
to northern states. It has been intimated by the 
senator from Massachusetts, that, if we legislate 
at this session on the tariff, we would seem to 
legislate under the influence of a panic. I be- 
lieve, Mr. President, I am not more sensible to 
danger of any kind than my fellow men are gen- 
erally. It, perhaps, requires as much moral cou- 
rage to legislate under the imputation of a 
panic, as to refrain from it, lest such an imputa- 
tion should be made. But he who regards the 
present question as being limited to South 
Carolina alone, takes a view of it much too con- 
tracted. There is a sympathy of feeling and in- 
terest throughout the whole south. Other south- 
ern states may differ from that as to the remedy 
to be now used, but all agree, (great as in my 
humble judgment is their error,) in the substan- 
tial justice of the cause. Can there be a doubt 
that those who think in common will sooner or 
later act in concert? Events are on the wing, 
and hastening this co-operation. Since the com- 
mencement of this session, the most powerful 
southern member of the union has taken a mea- 
sure which cannot fail to lead to important conse- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 21 1 

quences. She has deputed one of her most dis- 
tinguished citizens to request a suspension of 
measures of resistance. No attentive observer 
can doubt that the suspension will be made. 
Well, sir, suppose it takes place, and congress 
should fail at the next session to afford the re- 
dress which will be solicited, what course 
would every principle of honor, and every con- 
sideration of the interests of Virginia, as she 
understands them, exact from her 1 Would she 
not make common cause with South Carolina ; 
and, if she did, would not the entire south eventu- 
ally become parties to the contest 1 The rest 
of the union might put down the south, and re- 
duce it to submission ; but, to say nothing of 
the uncertainty and hazards of all war, is that a 
desirable state of things 1 Ought it not to be 
avoided if it can be. honorably prevented ] I 
am not one of those who think that we must re- 
ly exclusively upon moral power, and never re- 
sort to physical force. I know too well the 
frailties and follies of man, in his collective as 
well as individual character, to reject, in all pos- 
sible cases, the employment of force ; but I do 
think, that, when resorted to, especially among 
the members of a confederacy, it should manifest- 
ly appear to be the only remaining appeal. 



212 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 

But it is confidently believed that the con- 
Sumption of cotton fabrics, on the supposition 
which has been made within the United States, 
would be much less than it is at present. It 
would be less, because the American consumer 
would not possess the means or ability to pur- 
chase as much of the European fabric as he now 
does to buy the American. Europe purchases 
but little of the produce of the northern, middle, 
and western regions of the United States. The 
staple productions of those regions are excluded 
from her consumption by her policy or by her 
native supplies of similar productions. The ef- 
fect, therefore, of obliging the inhabitants of 
those regions to depend upon the cotton manu- 
factures of Europe for necessary supplies of the 
article, would be alike injurious to them and to 
the cotton grower. They Would suffer from 
their inability to supply their wants, and there 
would be a consequent diminution of the con- 
sumption of cotton. By the location of the ma- 
nufacture in the United States, the quantity of 
cotton consumed is increased, and the more nu- 
merous portion of their inhabitants, who would 
not be otherwise sufficiently supplied, are abun- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 213 

dantly served. That this is the true state of 
things, I think cannot be doubted by any reflect- 
ing and unprejudiced man. The establishment 
of manufactures within the United States, ena- 
bles the manufacturer to sell to the farmer, the 
mechanic, the physician, the lawyer, and all who 
are engaged in other pursuits of life ; and these, 
in their turns, supply the manufacturer with 
subsistence, and whatever else his wants require. 
Under the influence of the protecting policy, 
many new towns have been built and old ones 
enlarged. The population of these places draw 
their subsistence from the farming interest of 
our country, their fuel from our forests and coal 
mines, and the raw material from which they 
fashion and fabricate, from the cotton planter 
and the mines of our country. These mutual 
exchanges, so animating and invigorating to the 
industry of the people of the United States, could 
not possibly be effected between America and 
Europe, if the latter enjoyed the monopoly of 
manufacturing. 

It results, therefore, that, so far as the sale of 
the great southern staple is concerned, a greater 
quantity is sold and consumed, and consequently 
better prices are obtained, under the operation 
of the American system, than would be without it. 
19 



214 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

Does that system oblige the cotton planters to 
buy dearer or worse articles of consumption than 
he could purchase, if it did not exist ? 

The same couse of American and European 
competition, which enables him to sell more of 
the produce of his industry, and at better prices, 
also enables him to buy cheaper and better arti- 
cles for consumption. It cannot be doubted that 
the tendency of the competition, between the 
European and American manufacturer, is to re- 
duce the price and improve the quality of their 
respective fabrics, whenever they come into col- 
lision. This is the immutable law of all compe- 
tition. If the American manufacture were dis- 
continued, Europe would then exclusively fur- 
nish those supplies which are now derived from 
the establishments in both continents ; and the 
first consequence would be an augmentation of 
the demand, beyond the supply, equal to what 
is now manufactured in the United States, but 
which, in the contingency supposed, would be 
wrought in Europe. If the destruction of the 
American manufactures were sudden, there 
would be a sudden and probably a considerable 
rise in the European fabrics. Although in the 
end, they might be again reduced, it is not likely 
that the ultimate reduction of the prices would 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 215 

be to such rates as if both the workshops of 
America and Europe remained sources of sup- 
ply. There would also be a sudden reduction 
in the price of the raw material in consequence 
of the cessation of American demand. And this 
reduction would be permanent, if the supposition 
be correct, that there would be a diminution in 
the consumption of cotton fabrics arising out of 
the inability, on the part oflarge portions of the 
people of the United States, to purchase those 
of Europe. 

That the effect of competition between the 
European and American manufacture has been 
to supply the American consumer with cheaper 
and better articles, since the adoption of the 
American system, notwithstanding the existence 
of causes which have obstructed its fair opera- 
tion, and retarded its full development, is incon- 
testible. Both the freeman and the slave are 
now better and cheaper supplied than they were 
prior to an existence of that system. Cotton 
fabrics have diminished in price, and been im- 
proved in their texture, to an extent that it is dif- 
ficult for the imagination to keep pace with. 
Those partly of cotton and partly of wool are 
gtlso better and cheaper supplied. The same 
observation is applicable to those which are ex- 



216 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

clusively wrought of wool, iron, or glass. In 
short, it is believed that there is not one item of 
the tariffinserted for the protection of native in- 
dustry, which has not fallen in price. The Ame- 
rican competition lias tended to keep down tiie 
European rival fabric, and the European has 
tended to lower the American, 

STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 

This, or some other measure of conciliation, 
is now more than ever necessary, since the pas- 
sage, through the senate, of the enforcing bill- 
To that bill, if 1 had been present, on the final 
vote, I should have given my assent, although 
with great reluctance. I believe this govern- 
ment not only possessed of the constitutional 
power, but to be bound, by every consideration, 
to maintain the authority of the laws. But I 
deeply regretted the necessity which seemed 
to require the passage of such a bill. And I 
was far from being without serious apprehen- 
sions as to the consequences to which it might 
lead. I felt no new born zeal in favor of the 
present administration, of which 1 now think as 
I have always thought. I could not vote against 
the measure : I could not speak in its behalf. 
I thought it most proper in me to leave to the 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 217 

friends of the administration, and to others who 
might feel themselves particularly called upon, 
to defend and sustain a strong measure of the 
administration. With respect to the series of 
acts to which the executive has resorted, in rela- 
tion to our southern disturbance, this is not a 
fit occasion to enter upon a full consideration of 
them ; but I will briefly say, that, although the 
proclamation is a paper of uncommon ability and 
eloquence, doing great credit, as a composition, 
to him who prepared it, and to him who signed 
it, I think it contains some ultra doctrines, 
which no party in this country had ventured to 
assert. With these are mixed up many sound 
principles and just views of our political system. 
If it is to be judged by its effects upon those to 
whom it was more immediately addressed, it 
must be admitted to have been ill-timed and un- 
fortunate. Instead of allaying the excitement 
which prevailed, it increased the exasperation in 
the infected district, and afforded new and 
unnecessary causes of discontent and dissatisfac- 
tion in the south generally. The message, subse- 
quently transmitted to congress, communicating 
the proceedings of South Carolina, and calling 
for countervailing enactments, was characterized 
with more prudence and moderation. And, if 

19* 



218 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

this unhappy contest is to continue, I sincerely 
hope that the future conduct of the administra- 
tion may be governed by wise and cautious 
counsels, and a parental forbearance. But when 
the highest degree of animosity exists ; when both 
parties, however unequal, have arrayed them- 
selves for the conflict, who can tell when, by the 
indiscretion of subordinates, or other unforeseen 
causes, the bloody struggle may commence % 
In the midst of magazines, who knows when the 
fatal spark may produce a terrible explosion 1 
And the battle once begun, where is its limit 1 
What latitude will circumscribe its rage 1 Who 
is to command our armies ? When, and where, 
and how, is the war to cease 1 In what condition 
will the peace leave the American System, the 
American union, and what is more than all, 
American liberty 1 I cannot profess to have a 
confidence which I have not, in this administra- 
tion ; but if 1 had all confidence in it, I should 
still wish to pause, and, if possible, by any 
honorable adjustment, to prevent awful conse- 
quences, the extent of which no human wisdom 
can foresee. 

It appears to me then, Mr. President, that we 
ought not to content ourselves with passing the 
enforcing bill only. Both that and the bill of 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 219 

peace seem to me to be required for the good of 
our country. The first will satisfy all who love 
order and law, and disapprove the inadmissible 
doctrine of nullification. The last will soothe 
those who love peace and concord, harmony 
and union. One demonstrates the power and 
the disposition to vindicate the authority and 
supremacy of the laws of the union ; the other 
offers that which, if it be accepted in the frater- 
nal spirit in which it is tendered, will super- 
sede the necessity of the employment of all 
force. 

REPLY TO MR. WEBSTER. 

I have long, with pleasure and pride, co-ope- 
rated in the public service with the senator froro 
Massachusetts; and I have found h!m faithful, 
enlightened, and patriotic. I have not a particle 
of doubt as to the pure and elevated motives 
which actuate him. Under these circumstances, 
it gives me deep and lasting regret to find my- 
self compelled to differ from him as to a measure 
involving vital interests, and perhaps the safety 
of the union. On the other hand, I derive greai 
consolation from finding myself, on this occasion*, 
in the midst of friends with whom I have long 
acted, in peace and in war, and especially with 



32© BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

the honorable senator from Maine, [Mr. Holmes,] 
with whom I had the happiness to unite in a 
memorable instance. It was in this very cham- 
ber, that senator presiding in the committee of 
the senate, and I in the committee of twenty- 
four of the house of representatives, on a Sab- 
bath day, that the terms were adjusted, by which 
die compromise was effected of the Missouri 
question. Then the dark clouds that hung over 
our beloved country were dispersed ; and now 
the thunders from others not less threatening, 
and which have been longer accumulating, will, 
1 hope, roll over us harmless and without injury. 
The senator from Massachusetts objects to the 
bill under consideration on various grounds. He 
argues that it imposes unjustifiable restraint on 
the power of future legislation; that it abandons 
the protective policy; and that the details of the 
bill are practically defective. He does not ob- 
ject to the gradual, but very inconsiderable, re- 
duction of duties which is made prior to 1S42. 
To that he could not object ; because it is a spe- 
cies of prospective provision, as he admits, in 
conformity with numerous precedents on our 
statute book. He does not object so much to 
the state of the proposed law prior to 1842, du- 
ring a period of nine years ; but throwing him- 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 221 

self forward to the termination of that period, he 
contends that congress will then find itself under 
inconvenient shackles, imposed by our indiscre- 
tion. In the first place,, I would remark, that 
the bill contains no obligatory pledges ; it could 
make none ; none are attempted. The power 
over the subject is in the constitution ; put there 
by those who formed it, and liable to be taken 
out only by an amendment of the instrument. 
The next congress, and every succeeding con- 
gress, will undoubtedly have the power to repeal 
the law whenever they may think proper. Whe- 
ther they will exercise it or not, will depend up- 
on a sound discretion, applied to the state of the 
whole country, and estimating fairly the conse- 
quences of the repeal, both upon the general 
harmony and the common interests. Then, the 
bill is founded in a spirit of compromise. Now, 
in all compromises there must be mutual conces- 
sions. The friends of free trade insist that du- 
ties should be laid in reference to revenue alone. 
The friends of American industry say that an- 
other, if not paramount, object in layiug them, 
should be to diminish the consumption of foreign, 
and increase that of domestic products. On this 
point the parties divide, and, between these two 
opposite opinions, a reconciliation is to be effect- 



222 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

ed, if it can be accomplished. The bill assumes 
as a basis, adequate protection for nine years, 
and less beyond that term. The friends of pro- 
tection say to their opponents, we are willing to 
take a lease of nine years, with the long chapter 
of accidents beyond that period, including the 
chance of war, the restoration of concord, and 
alono: with it. a conviction, common to all, of the 
utility of protection ; and, in consideration of it, 
if. in 1S42, none of these contingencies shall 
have been realized, we are willing to submit, as 
long as congress may think proper, to a maxi- 
mum rate of 20 per cent., with the power of dis- 
crimination below it, cash duties, home valua- 
tions, and a liberal list of free articles, for the 
benefit of the manufacturing interest. To these 
conditions, the opponents of protection are ready 
to accede. The measure is what it professes to 
be, a compromise ; but it imposes and could im- 
pose no restriction upon the will or power of a 
future congress. Douhtless great respect will 
be paid, as it ought to be paid, to the serious 
condition of the country that has prompted the 
passage of this bill. Any future congress that 
might disturb this adjustment would act under a 
high responsibility, but it would be entirely 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 223 

within its competency to repeal, if it thought 
proper, the whole bill. 

It is far from the object of those who support 
this bill, to abandon or surrender the policy of 
protecting American industry. Its protection 
or encouragement may be accomplished in vari- 
ous ways. 1st. By bounties, as far as they are 
within the constitutional power of congress to 
offer them. 2d. By prohibitions, totally exclu- 
ding the foreign rival article. 3d. By high du- 
ties, without regard to the aggregate amount of 
revenue which they produce. 4th. By discrimi- 
nating duties, so adjusted as to limit the revenue 
to the economical wants of government. And 
5thly, by the admission of the raw material, and 
articles essential to manufactures, free of duty. 
To which may be added, cash duties, home valu- 
ations, and the regulation of auctions. A per- 
fect system of protection would comprehend 
most, if not all these modes of affording it. 
There might be, at this time, a prohibition of 
certain articles, (ardent spirits and coarse cot- 
tons, for example,) to public advantage. If there 
were not inveterate prejudices and conflicting 
opinions prevailing, (and what statesman can to- 
tally disregard impediments of that character 1) 
such a compound system might be established. 



224 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

Now, Mr. President, before the assertion is 
made that the bill surrenders the protective po- 
licy, gentlemen should understand perfectly what 
it does not, as well as what it does, propose. It 
impairs no power of congress over the whole 
subject; it contains no promise or pledge what- 
ever, express or implied, as to bounties, prohi- 
bitions, or auctions ; it does not touch the power 
of congress in regard to them, and congress is 
perfectly free to exercise that power at any time ; 
it expressly recognises discriminating duties 
within a prescribed limit ; it provides for cash 
duties and home valuations; and it secures a free 
list, embracing numerous articles, some of high 
importance to the manufacturing arts. Of all 
the modes of protection which I have enume- 
rated, it affects only the third ; that is to say, the 
imposition of high duties, producing a revenue 
beyond the wants of government. The senator 
from Massachusetts contends that the policy of 
protection was settled in 1816, and that it has 
ever since been maintained. Sir, it was settled 
long before 1S16. It is coeval with the present 
constitution, and it will continue, under some of 
its various aspects, during the existence of the 
government. No nation can exist, no nation, 
perhaps, ever existed, without protection, in 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 225 

some form, and to some extent, being applied to 
its own industry. The direct and necessary- 
consequence of abandoning the protection of its 
own industry, would be to subject it to the re- 
strictions and prohibitions of foreign powers ; 
and no nation, for any length of time, can endure 
an alien legislation, in which it has no will. The 
discontents which prevail, and the safety of the 
republic, may require the modification of a spe- 
cific mode of protection, but it must be preserved 
in some other more acceptable shape. 

All that was settled in 1816, in 1824, and in 
1828, was, that protection should be afforded by 
liigh duties, without regard to the amount of the re- 
venue which they might yield. During that whole 
period, we had a public debt which absorbed 
all the surpluses beyond the ordinary wants of 
government. Between 1816 and 1824, the reve- 
nue was liable to the great fluctuations, vibrating 
between the extremes of about nineteen and 
thirty-six millions of dollars. If there were 
more revenue, more debt was paid ; if less, a 
smaller amount was reimbursed. Such was 
sometimes the deficiency of the revenue, that it 
became necessary, to the ordinary expenses of 
government, to trench upon the ten millions an- 
nually set apart as a sinking fund, to extinguish 

20 



226 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

the public debt. If the public debt remained 
undischarged, or we had any other proper and 
practical mode of appropriating the surplus reve- 
nue, the form of protection, by high duties, might 
be continued without public detriment. It is 
the payment of the public debt, then, and the 
arrest of internal improvements by the exercise 
of the veto, that unsettle that specific form of 
protection^ Nobody supposes,, or proposes that 
we should continue to levy, by means of high 
duties, a hirge annual surplus, of which no prac- 
tical use can b£_made, for the sake of the inci- 
dental protection which they afford. The sec- 
retary of the treasury estimates that surplus on 
the existing scale of duties, and with the other 
sources of revenue, at six millions, annually. 
An annual accumulation, at that rate, would, in 
a few years, bring into the treasury the whole 
currency of the country, to lie there inactive and 
dormant. 

This view of the condition of the country has 
impressed every public man with the necessity 
of some modification of the principle of protec- 
tion, so far as it depends upon high duties. The 
senator from Massachusetts feels it ; and hence 
in the resolutions which he submitted, he pro-^ 
poses to reduce the duties, so as to limit the 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 227 

amount of the revenue to the wants of $e 
government With him, revenue is the princi- 
pal, protection the subordinate object. If pro- 
tection cannot be enjoyed after such a reduction 
of duties as he thinks ought to be made, it is not 
to be extended. He says specific duties, and 
the power of discrimination, are preserved b^ 
iiis resolutions. So they may be under the ope- 
ration of the bill. The only difference between 
the two schemes is, that the bill, in the maximum 
which it provides, suggests a certain limit ; whilst 
liis resolutions lay down none. Below that 
maximum, the principle of discrimination and 
specific duties may be applied. The senator 
from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Dallas] who, equally 
with the senator from Massachusetts, is opposed. 
to this bill, would have agreed to the bill if it 
had fixed thirty instead of twenty per centum; 
and he would have dispensed with home valua- 
tion, and come down to the revenue standard in 
live or six years. Now, Mr. President, I prefer, 
and I think the manufacturing interest will pre- 
fer, nine years o£ adequate protection, home 
valuations, and twenty per cent., to the plan of 
the senator from Pennsylvania- 
Mr. President, I want to be perfectly under- 
stood as to the motives which have prompted 



228 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

m£ to offer this measure. I repeat what I said 
on the introduction of it, that they are, first, to 
preserve the manufacturing interest, and, second- 
ly, to quiet the country. I believe the American 
System to be in the greatest danger ; and I be- 
lieve it can be placed on a better and safer 
foundation at this session than at the next. I 
heard, with surprise, my friend from Massachu- 
setts say, that nothing had occurred within the 
last six months to increase its hazard. I entreat 
him to review that opinion. Is it correct 1 
Is the issue of numerous elections, including 
that of the highest officer of the government, 
nothing ? Is the explicit recommendation of 
that officer, in his message at the opening of the 
session, sustained, as he is, by a recent triumph- 
ant election, nothing 1 Is his declaration in his 
proclamation, that the burdens of the south ought 
to be reliever!, nothing 1 Is the introduction of 
a bill into the house of representatives during 
this session, sanctioned by the head of the treasury 
and the administration, prostrating the greater 
part of the manufactures of the country, nothing 1 
Are the increasing discontents, nothing 1 Is 
the tendency of recent events to unite the whole 
south, nothing 1 What have we not witnessed 
in this chamber % Friends of ihe administration 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 229 

bursting all the ties which seemed indissolubly 
to unite them to its chief, and, with few excep- 
tions south of the Potomac, opposing, and vehe- 
mently opposing, a favorite measure of that ad- 
ministration, which three short months ago they 
contributed to establish ! Let us not deceive 
ourselves. Now is the time to adjust the ques- 
tion in a manner satisfactory to both parties. 
Put it off until the next session, and the alterna- 
tive may, and probably then would be a speedy 
and ruinous reduction of the tariff, or a civil war 
with the entire south. 

It is well known that the majority of the do- 
minant party is adverse to the tariff. There are 
many honorable exceptions, the senator from 
New Jersey [ Mr. Dickerson ] among them. 
But for the exertions of the other party, the tariff 
would have been lono: since sacrificed. Now 
let as look at the -composition of the two branches 
of congress at the next session. In this body 
we lose three friends of the protective policy, 
without being sure of gaining one. Here, judg- 
ing from present appearances^ we shall, at the 
next session, be in the minority. In the house 
it is notorious that there is a considerable acces- 
sion to the number of the dominant, party. How 
then, I ask, is the system to be sustained against 

20* 



230 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

numbers, against the whole weight of the admi- 
nistration, against the united south, and against 
the increased pending danger of civil war ] 
There is, indeed, one contingency that might 
save it, but that is too uncertain to rely upon. A 
certain class of northern politicians, professing 
friendship to the tariff, have been charged with 
being secretly inimical to it, for political pur- 
poses. They may change their ground, and 
come out open and undisguised supporters of 
the system. They may even find in the measure 
which 1 have brought forward, a motive for their 
conversion. Sir, 1 shall rejoice in it, from what- 
ever cause it may proceed. And if they can 
give greater strength and durability to the sys- 
tem, and at the same quiet the discontent of its 
opponents, I shall rejoice still more. They 
shall not find me disposed to abandon it because 
it has drawn succor from an unexpected quarter. 

PATRIOTISM. 

There are some who say, let the tariff go 
down ; let our manufactures be prostrated, if 
such be the pleasure, at another session, of those 
to whose hands the government of this country 
is confided; let bankruptcy and ruin be spread 
over the land ; and let resistancet o the laws, at 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 231 

all hazards, be subdued. Sir, they take counsel 
from their passions. They anticipate a terrible 
reaction from the downfall of the tariff, which 
would ultimately re-establish it upon a firmer 
basis than ever. But it is these very agitations, 
these mutual irritations between brethren of the 
same family, it is the individual distress and 
general ruin that would necessarily follow the 
overthrow of the tariff, that ought, if possible, to 
be prevented. Besides, are we certain of this 
reaction 1 Have we not been disappointed in 
it as to other measures heretofore % But sup- 
pose, after a long and embittered struggle, it 
should come, in what relative condition would it 
find the parts of this confederacy 1 In what 
state our ruined manufactures % When they 
should be laid low, who, amidst the fragments of 
the general wreck, scattered over the face of the 
land, would have courage to engage in fresh en- 
terprises, under a new pledge of the violated 
faith of the government] If we adjourn, then, 
without passing this bill, having entrusted the 
executive with vast powers to maintain the laws, 
should he be able by the next session to put 
down all opposition to them, will he not, as a 
necessary consequence of success, have more 
power than ever to put down the tariff also 1 



232 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

Has he not said that the south is oppressed, and 
its burdens ought to be relieved'? And will he 
not feel himself bound, after he shall have tri- 
umphed, if triumph he may in a civil war, to 
appease the discontents of the south by a modi- 
fication of the tariff, in conformity with its wishes 
and demands 3 No, sir ; no, sir ; let us save 
the country from the most dreadful of all calami- 
ties, and let us save its industry, too, from 
threatened destruction. Statesmen should reffu- 

O 

late their conduct and adapt their measures to 
the exigencies of the times in which they live. 
They cannot, indeed, transcend the limits of the 
constitutional rule ; but, with respect to those 
systems of policy which fall within its scope, 
they should arrange them according to the inter- 
ests, the wants, and the prejudices of the people. 
Tw© great daggers threaten the public safety. 
The true patriot will not stop to inquire how 
they have been brought about, but will fly to the 
deliverance of his country. The difference be- 
tween the friends and the foes of the compro- 
mise, under consideration, is, that they would, 
in the enforcing act, send forth alone a flaming 
sword. We would send out that also, but along 
with it the olive branch, as a messenger of peace. 
They cry out, the law ! the law ! the law ! Power ! 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 233 

power! power! We, too, reverence the law, 
and bow to the supremacy of its obligation ; but 
we are in favor of the law executed in mildness, 
and of power tempered with mercy. They, as 
we think, would hazard a civil commotion, 
beginning in South Carolina, and extending God 
only knows where. While we would vindicate 
the authority of the federal government, we are 
for peace, if possible, union and liberty. We 
want no war, above all, no civil war, no family 
strife. We want to see no sacked cities, no 
desolated fields, no smoking ruins, no streams of 
American blood shed by American arms! 

I have been accused of ambition in present- 
ing this measure. Ambition ! inordinate ambi- 
tion ! If I had thought of myself only, I 
should have never brought it forward. I know 
well the perils to which I expose myself; the 
risk of alienating faithful and valued friends, with" 
but little prospect of making new ones, if any 
new ones could compensate for the loss of those 
whom we have long tried and loved ; and the 
honest misconceptions both of friends and foes. 
Ambition ! If I had listened to its soft and 
seducing whispers ; if I had yielded myself to 
the dictates of a cold, calculating, and pruden- 
tial policy, I would have stood still and unmoved. 



234 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 

I might even have silently gazed on the raging 
storm, enjoyed its loudest thunders, and left 
those who are charged with the care of the ves- 
sel of state to conduct it as they could. I have 
been heretofore often unjustly accused of am- 
bition. Low, grovelling souls, who are utterly 
incapable of elevating themselves to the higher 
and nobler duties of pure patriotism — beings, 
who, forever keeping their own selfish aims in 
view, decide all public measures by their pre- 
sumed influence on their aggrandizement, judge 
me by the venal rule which they prescribe to 
themselves. I have given to the winds these 
false accusations, as I consign that which now 
impeaches my motives. I have no desire for 
office, not even the highest. The most exalted 
is but a prison, in which the incarcerated incum- 
bent daily receives his cold, heartless visitants, 
marks his weary hours, and is cut off from the 
practical enjoyment of all the blessings of 
genuine freedom. I am no candidate for any 
office in the gift of the people of these states, 
united or separated ; I never wish, never expect 
to be. Pass this bill, tranquillize the country, 
restore confidence and affection in the union, 
and I am willing to go borne to Ashland, and 
renounce public service forever. I should there 



BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 235 

find, in its groves, under its shades, on ' tR lawns, 
amidst my flocks and herds, in the bosom of my fa- 
mily, sincerity and truth, attachment and fidelity, 
and gratiude, which I have not always found in 

the walks of public life Yes, I have ambition, 

but it is the ambition of being the humble instru- 
ment, in the hands of Providence, to reconcile 
a divided people, once more to revive coneord 
and harmony in a distracted land — the pleasing 
ambition of contemplating the glorious spectacle 
of a free, united, prosperous, and fraternal 
people ! 



THE END. 






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